Asker Jeukendrup was born in Roermond in the Netherlands in 1969. Following an MSc in Human Movement Sciences at Maastricht University in the Netherlands he completed his PhD in 1997 at the same University studying “Aspects of carbohydrate and fat metabolism during exercise”. In 1997 he moved to the University of Texas at Austin in the USA where he worked as a post-doc studying the effects of diet-exercise interventions. After a year he returned to Maastricht for another post-doc period. Over the years he developed experience in measuring metabolism using stable isotopic tracer techniques and mass spectrometr. Research focussed on the interaction between nutrition and exercise.

 

In July 1998 he started as a lecturer at that School of Sport and Exercise Sciences of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and in 2002 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer, to Reader in Exercise Metabolism in 2004 and Professor in Exercise Metabolism in 2005, becoming the youngest professor in the history of the University. He was the academic Director of the Human Performance Laboratory and managing the research in this lab for the department, managed a mass spectrometry lab, as well as being Director of Research for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences. In 2011 Asker accepted a position with PepsiCo to become the Global Senior Director of Exercise Physiology. In this role he headed up the Gatorade Sports Science Institute based in Barrington, Illinois, directing a global operation with labs in the USA, UK and Mexico. Asker is also a visiting Professor at Loughborough University, UK.

 

Asker’s research interests have always been the metabolic responses to exercise, especially endurance exercise, the interaction between nutrition and exercise, sports nutrition, gastro-intestinal complaints during exercise, training and overtraining. He has published over 200 peer reviewed publications and book chapters (including 126 original papers, 51 review articles and 14 book chapters) and published several books including a book called “High Performance Cycling” a Textbook on Sports Nutrition in collaboration with Prof Michael Gleeson and a popular book “Sports Nutrition: From lab to kitchen”.

 

Asker was the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Sport Science, and member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sports Medicine, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise and the Journal of Sports Sciences. He also acts as a referee for more than 35 peer reviewed journals. In 2003 he was awarded the Otto Wolff von Amerongen prize for his achievements and in 2005 he was awarded the Danone Chair in Nutrition at the Free University Brussels, Belgium. Asker is also a member of the IOC sports nutrition advisory board. Many studies received substantial attention from the media and Asker has been involved in the making of numerous TV programmes and has substantial media experience. In addition he has a substantial social media following.