Derk-Jan Dijk, PhD

Derk-Jan Dijk received his PhD from the University of Groningen in 1988. As a Senior Research Associate at the University of Zurich, he studied sleep homeostasis and then as a junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School he investigated the role of the circadian pacemaker in the regulation of sleep and waking performance. After returning to Europe in 1999, he became Distinguished Professor of Sleep and Physiology and Founder/Director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre at the University of Surrey. He is Group Leader for Improving Sleep and Circadian Disruption in the UK Dementia Research Institute. His current research interests include: the interaction of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythmicity in the regulation of sleep and cognition; identification of novel-biomarkers for susceptibility to the negative effects of sleep loss; sleep and circadian disruption in dementia and the validation and implementation of new technologies for monitoring sleep and circadian rhythms in dementia.