Annemieke Aartsma-Rus is a professor of translational genetics in the Department of Human Genetics at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), and one of the most influential researchers in the field of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Her research focuses on advancing therapeutic exon skipping for DMD into the clinic. She has a visiting professorship with the John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Center at the Institute of Genetic Medicine of Newcastle University. Dr. Aartsma-Rus also serves as a scientific advisor for various DMD organizations. As a foremost expert in the field, Dr. Aartsma-Rus received the Duchenne Award from the Duchenne Parent Project for her dedication and research in DMD in 2011 and the Black Pearl Science Award from Eurordis in 2021. She received her PhD from Leiden University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the LUMC.