Dr. Ron M.A. Heeren obtained a PhD degree in technical physics in 1992 at the University of Amsterdam on plasma-surface interactions. He was the research group leader at FOM-AMOLF for macromolecular ion physics and biomolecular imaging mass spectrometry between 1995 through 2015. He is considered one of the founders of the field of imaging mass spectrometry. In 2001 he was appointed professor at the chemistry faculty of Utrecht University lecturing on the physical aspects of biomolecular mass spectrometry. In 2014 he was appointed as distinguished professor and Limburg Chair at the University of Maastricht. He is scientific director of M4I, the Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Imaging Institute and heads the Division of Imaging MS. As a result of his efforts to add value to scientific research (valorization), he was awarded the prestigious 2019 Physics Valorization prize by the Dutch organization for scientific research, NWO.

He has been active in many professional societies to advance mass spectrometric research, education and professionalization. He has published numerous, well-cited works in the field of imaging mass spectrometry. His academic research interests are mass spectrometry based personalized medicine, translational molecular imaging research, high-throughput bioinformatics and the development and validation of new mass spectrometry based molecular imaging techniques for the life sciences.