Bouke Boekema studied Bioprocess Technology at Wageningen University (The Netherlands) and obtained a PhD in Infectious Diseases at Veterinary Faculty of Utrecht University (The Netherlands) in 2003. After a postdoc position at the Microbiology department of Utrecht University, he moved to the preclinical research at the Association of Dutch Burn Centres (Beverwijk, The Netherlands) in 2007. Since 2021 he is head of the Burn Research Lab.
He started a research line with a focus on gaining insight into the microbial issues encountered in burns and on testing and developing antimicrobial treatments. In the last decade, he extended his interest to dermal substitutes, inflammation and alternatives for animal testing. The use of commercially available dermal substitutes for Full Skin Equivalents has been shown an excellent method to test various aspects involved in colonization, inflammation and healing in a laboratory setting. His work has resulted in 7 grants, 39 publications in peer reviewed journals, 2 book chapters and 1 patent. He is currently involved in the supervision of 5 PhD students and is active as a peer reviewer (award for outstanding reviewer for IOP in 2019). Since September 2024, he is president of the European Tissue Repair Society (ETRS).