In his research, Kees Hovingh concentrates on the genesis of cardiovascular diseases and on therapies for patients with cardiovascular ailments, especially disorders of cholesterol metabolism. His main focus is on patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a hereditary condition characterised by an excessive blood level of LDL cholesterol which leads to premature cardiovascular disease.

Hovingh is the founder of an international network of specialists treating patients with homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (hoFH), a rare form of FH. These patients sometimes experience a heart attack as early as the age of twenty. Together with colleagues Hovingh is evaluating new lipid lowering therapies, and he does this with his international colleagues.

As professor, Hovingh will focus on research related to the molecular basis of dyslipidaemia (an imbalance of fats in the blood), a subject on which he has already been working for some time. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop new therapeutic options.

Hovingh is an internist in vascular medicine and a staff member of the Department of Vascular Medicine at the AMC. Since 2012 he has been head of the department’s Clinical Trial Unit and since December 2016 vice chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. Hovingh is visiting professor at Imperial College, London. In 2016, he received a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), in addition to several other national and international grants. In 2015 Hovingh gained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Amsterdam Business School.