Tessa Roseboom, PhDAdjunct Professor

Tessa Roseboom is a professor of Early Development and Health at the University of Amsterdam, who works as a Future Generations Commissioner at Amsterdam University Medical Centers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

As a biologist, Roseboom studied how human beings are shaped by the environment in which they grow and develop. Her teams investigations into the long-term consequences of prenatal exposure to the Dutch famine provided the first direct evidence in humans that the environment in which human beings develop has lasting impacts on physical and mental health, and people’s ability to contribute to society. But also, that these effects are transmitted across generations. The lessons learned about developmental plasticity translated into observational and experimental studies in current day settings. The main questions of her research are: (1) what are the consequences of exposures in early life? (2) which interventions and policies are effective in optimizing people’s chances to develop their full potential?

These studies revealed that our decisions and actions today shape the environment in which future generations are formed, affecting their ability to develop to their full potential. Her work as Future Generations Commissioner aims at taking the interests of future generations into account in all our actions and decisions. As part of that work she aims to create, share and use knowledge about how to take the interests of future generations into account.

She actively advocates for the translation of scientific knowledge into policy and practice and is an ambassador for the Dutch government program Solid Start, that invests in the first 1000 days of life.

Through research, advocacy and teaching, she transfers knowledge and awareness about the fundamental importance of a good start in life to students, professionals, policymakers and (future) parents. The ultimate goal of her work is to contribute to a future in which every human being gets a chance to develop to its full potential.