Dr. Koen Joosten is a highly respected pediatric intensivist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Erasmus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital in the Netherlands. He earned his medical degree from Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and became a pediatrician in 1993. After completing his pediatric intensive care training at Erasmus MC-Sophia Children’s Hospital in 1995, he went on to receive his PhD in 1999. His doctoral research focused on metabolism, endocrinology, and nutrition in critically ill children, and he has continued to advance research in these areas throughout his career.

In 2019, Dr. Joosten was appointed Professor of "Nutrition and Metabolism of the Sick Child" at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. His research, which involves collaborations with institutions such as the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Canada, and Boston Children’s Hospital, has contributed significantly to the field of pediatric nutrition. Along with Dr. Jessie Hulst, he developed the STRONGkids tool, a simple and effective nutritional risk screening instrument that has been widely adopted.

Dr. Joosten's work has also had a direct impact on national healthcare policies. In 2008, he played a key role in a nationwide campaign with the Dutch government to implement a performance indicator for screening and treating children admitted to the hospital for malnutrition. His expertise in pediatric nutrition has led him to serve in several prominent roles, including as chairman of the Feeding Group of the Dutch Paediatric Association, chairman of the Task Force for Healthy Feeding Children Aged 0-4, and chair of the Special Interest Group Pediatrics for the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN). Additionally, he is a member of the Dutch Steering Committee on Malnutrition and has been the director of ESPEN's lifelong learning (LLL) courses in pediatrics.

Dr. Joosten has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and regularly presents lectures on the screening and feeding of critically ill children at international conferences. Since 2011, he has served as an associate editor for Clinical Nutrition. Through his extensive research, leadership, and contributions to both national and international nutritional guidelines for pediatric care, Dr. Koen Joosten has become a leading authority in the nutrition and metabolism of critically ill children.