Lucienne Vonk, PhD, is currently Director Musculoskeletal Diseases at Xintela AB (Sweden) and Senior Researcher at the Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU, the Netherlands). She received her PhD on tissue engineering of various cartilage tissues in 2010 (Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands), whereafter she joined the department of Orthopaedics at the UMCU. From 2019 – 2022 she headed the scientific department at CO.DON AG (Germany).
Her research focuses on biological musculoskeletal tissue regeneration, including cell-based therapies and enhancing clinical therapeutic potential via intercellular communication. She is mainly active in translational and clinical research, including phases I/II, III and PIP studies.
She has published numerous scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters and has been invited speaker at many (inter)national meetings. She collaborated in several research consortia and attracted over 3 million Euro funding for her research. Dr. Vonk was an International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS) scientist travelling fellow in 2015. She is a recipient of multiple awards, including the ICRS Young Investigator Award in 2016, various best abstract awards from ICRS, European Society of Sports Traumatology Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA) and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), best basic science research awards (2021, 2015) by the Netherlands Orthopedic Association (NOV), finalist for the Dick Heinegård Young Investigator award by Matrix Biology Europe in 2014, and the systematic review award by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) in 2013.
Dr. Vonk is Senior & Social Media Associate Editor of the Journal of Cartilage & Joint Preservation. She is currently deputy co-chair of Translational Research committee of the ICRS, has been active in several other ICRS committees and was program co-chair for the ICRS World Congress in Vancouver in 2019. She is also co-founder and basic science chair of the German National ICRS cartilage club and member of the board of directors of International Regenerative Medicine Experts Society (IARMES). From 2011 – 2019, she served as Treasurer in the Executive Board of the Dutch Society for Matrix Biology (NVMB) and of the organizing board of Matrix Biology Europe (Federation of European Connective Tissue Societies) meeting 2014 in Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
