Following medical school and a PhD in cardiovascular pharmacology, dr. Riksen did a post-doc at Hatter Cardiovascular Institute in London. In 2010 he graduated as an internist and specialist in vascular medicine at the Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands and became head of the Division of Vascular Medicine in 2012. In 2014 he was appointed full Professor of Vascular Medicine. He combines his work as physician (specialized in treating patients with complex hypertension, dyslipidemia, premature atherosclerosis, vasculitis and trombosis) with translational cardiovascular research from bench-to-bedside. His research group is focussed on innate immune cell reprogramming in the context of atherosclerosis.