Dr. Jaddoe (1974) is Pediatrician and Professor of Pediatric Epidemiology. He is Principal Investigator of the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study among 10,000 pregnant women and their children in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (www.generationr.nl). His research is focused on 3 main themes: (1) Maternal and fetal health;(2) Fetal and infant programming of common childhood diseases; (3) Genetics and epigenetics of common childhood diseases. General aim of this research is to explore how genetic variants and environmental exposures lead to maternal gestational complications, fetal and childhood developmental adaptation mechanisms, and risk factors for common diseases. Specific interest is in the identification of early critical periods and mechanisms leading to risk factors for diseases in later life. Main diseases of interest include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and respiratory diseases. Genetic association studies are embedded in the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium and Early Growth & Longitudinal Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium, in which various birth cohorts (>30,000 subjects) combine their genome wide association studies efforts.