Sandra Kooij, M.D., Ph.D.

Biography

Sandra Kooij, M.D., Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor on Adult ADHD at the Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC/VUmc, and a psychiatrist at PsyQ psycho-medical programs, where she serves as Head of the Expertise Center Adult ADHD in The Hague, the Netherlands. She started in 1995 with research and the development of diagnostic assessment and treatment of adult ADHD in the Netherlands, and in 2006 she received her PhD on a thesis entitled “ADHD in Adults: Clinical Studies on Assessment and Treatment.”

Since 2002, she has been head of the Dutch Expertise Center Adult ADHD, combining research, patient care, professional education, and public information with publishing books, scientific papers, websites, webinars, podcasts, and the ADHD app Super Brains. Since 2020, she has been Professor on Adult ADHD at the Department of Psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center/VUmc in Amsterdam. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed international papers and more than 20 books or book chapters on ADHD in adults, and supported the initiation and implementation of the Super Brains app for ADHD in the Netherlands.

She initiated and is president of the DIVA Foundation, which developed the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults (DIVA-5, based on DSM-5 criteria), available online at low cost in more than 30 languages. She is also the initiator and president of the European Network Adult ADHD, uniting 74 members from 28 countries, and co-founded the ADHD Powerbank together with Dr. Dora Wynchank, an online educational video platform with 40 videos in English and French for patients and professionals. In 2023, she initiated the Head Heart Hormones (H3) Network in the Netherlands with a cardiologist and gynaecologist to improve integrated female-specific healthcare for women with ADHD.

Until 2025, she was chair of the Section Neurodevelopmental Disorders Across the Lifespan (NDAL) at the European Psychiatric Association (EPA). She is a board member of Eunethydis, a member of the Scientific Committee of the World Federation of ADHD, and an honorary member of ADHD Europe and Impuls en Woortblind.