Joke Baas

Prof. Joke Baas is a Professor of Experimental Psychology at Utrecht University, affiliated with the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Helmholtz Institute. Her research focuses on understanding fear mechanisms, particularly the role of psychopharmacology and neuroscientific approaches in anxiety disorders. She leads projects exploring cannabidiol (CBD) as an adjunct to cognitive behavioral therapy for fear extinction. Her work bridges preclinical and clinical studies, collaborating with neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and psychologists internationally.

She teaches in psychology programs and chairs the Nethics committee. Notable contributions include an inaugural lecture (2019) and organizing the 2016 European Meeting for Human Fear Conditioning. Her research spans fear conditioning, genetic influences on anxiety, and translational drug studies.

Key areas include: Anxiety neurobiology, CBD's therapeutic potential, fear acquisition/extinction dynamics, and hormonal influences on emotional processing. Recent studies investigate oral contraceptive effects on anxiety trajectories in adolescents and methodological advancements in fear conditioning research.

Grants include a 2017 NCU grant for translational research on CBD-enhanced exposure therapy. Her work is published in journals like European Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.