Jan Veldink studied Medicine at Utrecht University, where he graduated as a physician in 1998. At that time, Utrecht had just introduced its Gemeenschappelijk Biomedisch Onderwijs (Integrated Biomedical Education), explicitly designed to train medical doctors and biomedical researchers together. From the start of his studies, Jan Veldink aspired to combine patient care with scientific research. In 2004, he earned his PhD in Utrecht with a dissertation on the genetic and environmental influences on the risk and progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Following his PhD, Jan worked at UCLA in Los Angeles, developing an algorithm to detect copy number variations in genome-wide SNP data.

Since 2008, he has been practicing as a neurologist at UMC Utrecht, focusing primarily on patients with neuromuscular diseases, particularly ALS and its mimics. In 2015, he was appointed professor of Neurogenetics.

Jan Veldink’s research focuses on identifying genes underlying neurological disorders, particularly ALS. His work includes diverse studies, ranging from investigations in well-defined families to large-scale cohorts of patients and controls in search of risk genes. He employs cutting-edge research techniques such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS), DNA sequencing, and RNA sequencing. Currently, he leads the world’s largest whole-genome sequencing project for ALS: Project MinE. In 2016, he discovered two new ALS risk genes, NEK1 and C21orf2, and clarified the genetic architecture of ALS.