prof. dr. Barbara Franke

About Barbara Franke

My research is focused on unravelling the biology of multifactorial neurodevelopmental and stress-related psychiatric conditions and their comorbidities. My lab employs novel approaches to gene finding, such as combining analyses of common and rare genetic variation. Downstream of risk factor identification, we aim to understand the pathways from gene to behaviour/disorder. For this, we use complementary approaches, including epigenetics and other molecular omics, bioinformatics, and neuroimaging genetics. International collaboration and team science are strong motivators for me. I am the founder and leader of the International Multicenter persistent ADHD Collaboration (IMpACT) and the ECNP Network ADHD across the lifespan, and a founding member of the international ENIGMA Consortium on neuroimaging and genetics. I have led several international research consortia on psychiatric conditions and their comorbidity, including the EU-funded consortia Aggressotype, MiND, and PRIME, and I have led work packages in four additional EU-funded consortia. I’m also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC), co-leader of PGC’s ADHD Working Group. For the last 6 years, I have also been on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG); since 2024, I am a member of the Executive Committee of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP). I have received several awards, including the largest Dutch personal grant (Vici) and a Royal award of Knighthood. In my career so far, I have trained 40 PhD students and 17 postdocs. I am proud that over 2/3 of my former PhD students continued as scientists in academia or industry and clinician-scientists, 1/3 won prestigious personal grants and prizes, 6 already hold independent professorships or tenure track positions, and 1 started up his own bioinformatics company.

Education

• 1985 - 1988 Secondary school (Gymnasiale Oberstufe, Goetheschule Wetzlar, Germany)
• 1988 - 1991 University (Biology, Vordiplom, Justus Liebig Universität, Giessen, Germany)
• 1991 - 1995 University (Biology, direction: Molecular and Chemical Biology, Utrecht University, cum laude)
• 1999 PhD (Utrecht University, Laboratory for Physiological Chemistry). Title thesis: Rap and Ral in platelet signaling

Personal prizes & awards

• NWO Vici Personal Grant (1.5 million euros for research) (2013)
• Hermesdorfprize International (2013)
• Award from Radboud University for international media coverage for research (2012)
• NWO Aspasia Premium for excellent female researchers (150,000 euros for research) (2012)
• Top Center for Genetic and Metabolic Diseases (TGM): Lustrum Award for research and educational activities (2007)
• Elected member of Academia Europaea (2015)
• Elected member of the Royal Dutch Society of Sciences (2017)
• Elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (2017)
• Named to Clarivate Highly Cited 2018 list (top 1% most cited scientists; cross-field category) (2019)
• Honorary Skou Professor at the Faculty of Health Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark (2019)
• Honorary Adjunct Professor at the Medical Faculty of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2019)
• Appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (2019)

Additional Functions

• 2005 – present Invited member of the European Network for Hyperkinetic Disorders (Eunethydis)
• 2007 – present Member of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG)
• 2007 – present Member of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)
• 2008 – present Member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)
• 2014 – present Member of the Editorial Board of Lancet Psychiatry
• 2017 – present Member of the Professional Board of the patient organization ADHD-Europe
• 2018 – present Leader of the ADHD Working Group of the PGC
• 2018 – present Member of the Board of Directors of the ISPG
• 2019 – present Specialty Editor for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
• 2023 – present Member of the Domain Committee for new member selection for the Royal Netherlands Academy for Arts and Sciences (KNAW), domain Medical, Biomedical and Health Sciences
• 2024 – present Member of the Executive Board of ECNP
• 2024 – 2025 Panel member for the evaluation of the R&D Units Multiannual Funding Program of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)