Presidency
President
Prof. L.J. Gunning-Schepers, University Professor Health and Society
Louise Gunning-Schepers has been appointed as President of the Health Council of the Netherlands from 1 September 2010.
Louise Gunning-Schepers (1951) studied at the University of Groningen and at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health at Baltimore in the USA. She obtained her PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also was a policy official at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. In 1991 she was appointed Professor of Social Medicine at the Amsterdam Medical Centre (AMC). From 1995 to 1997 she was a member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy. Since 1997 Louise has been a member of the Board of Directors of the AMC and Vice Dean. From 2001 until September 2010 she was Chair of the Board of Directors of the AMC and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Amsterdam. From 1 September 2010, simultaneously with her presidency of the Health Council, Louise has been appointed as University Professor Health and Society at the University of Amsterdam.
Since 1997 Louise Gunning-Schepers has been a member of the Health Council, and has worked on a number of Council committees. At the Council she will chair the Presidium Committee and various Standing Committees.
Additional positions:
- University Professor Health and Society at the University of Amsterdam
- President of the Board of Supervisors of the University Medical Center Utrecht
- International Advisor Cambridge University Health Partners
- President Board AMC Foundation, Amsterdam
- President Scientific Advisory Board Aids Fund, Amsterdam
- Member of the Board of Supervisors of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI)
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Anatomische Les of the AMC, Amsterdam
- Member Dutch Council for Secundary Education
- Member Advisory Group Transparency International, Berlin
- Member of the Advisory Council of the Health Care Insurance Board
- Member Advisory Council Stivoro
- Member Advisory Council Johannes Wier Foundation
- Board Member of the VSBfund
- President of the Board of Supervisors of the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam
- Member of the Board of SCC Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
- Member of the Vrienden van het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
- Member of the Advisory Council Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam
Vice President
Prof. D. Kromhout, Professor in public health research, Wageningen University
Daan Kromhout has been Vice President of the Health Council of the Netherlands (part-time) since 2005.
Daan graduated in 1974 as human nutrition specialist from Wageningen University and was awarded a doctorate in 1978 from the same university for the thesis on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in schoolchildren. He was awarded a Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota, USA, in 1981. In 1977 he joined the faculty of the University of Leiden and became professor of the endowed chair in nutrition and epidemiology in 1984. In 1994 he returned to Wageningen University as professor in public health research.
From 1988 to 2005 he occupied different positions at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven, such as head of the Centre for Epidemiology, director of the Public health research sector and director of the Nutrition and Consumer Safety sector. Other positions included President of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Epidemiology and Prevention of the Netherlands Heart Foundation and Vice President of the National Social-Economic Health Differences committee.
Daan leads large, prospective epidemiological studies in the field of nutrition and cardiovascular diseases (such as the Zutphen Study, the Seven Countries Study and the Alpha Omega Trial), and nutrition and ageing (such as the HALE project). He is author or co-author of over 350 peer-reviewed publications, 200 other publications and 2 books on the Seven Countries Study. Daan has won national and international prizes for his research presentations, including the prestigious Federa award from the Federation of Dutch Biomedical Scientific Societies and the silver medal from the European Society of Cardiology. He has supervised many doctoral students and recruited excellent young researchers. In September 2009 Daan was appointed special professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) because of his outstanding services in the fields of nutrition and cardiovascular diseases.
Before Daan became Vice President, he was a member of various committees of the Netherlands Nutrition Council and the Health Council of the Netherlands. He is responsible for the nutrition and health specialism, and is also president of the Nutrition Advisory Group.
Additional positions:
- Special professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
- Professor of public health research at Wageningen University
- Adjunct professor at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (USA)
- President of the Program Committee Healthy Nutrition, ZonMw
Vice President
Prof. H. Obertop
Hugo Obertop has been appointed as Vice President of the Health Council of the Netherlands from 1 January 2011.
Huug Obertop studied Medicine at the University of Leiden and followed his surgical training in the former Academic Hospital Dijkzigt in Rotterdam. He received his PhD in 1978 after a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA. He has extensive experience as a surgeon in the former Academic Hospital Maastricht and the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam and as Professor of Surgery in the University Medical Centres in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. He performed as chair or as member in many work-related organizations on surgery, research, education and training, and as editor of several international journals. He combines clinical and scientific excellence with leadership. Qualities he would very much like to contribute to the Health Council of the Netherlands. His appointment completes the Board of the Health Council of the Netherlands.
Besides the Vice Presidency of the Council, Huug is responsible for the Standing Committee on Medicine and the Standing Committee on Health and the environment.
Additional positions:
- President Subcommittee Effects & Costs, ZonMw
- Interim President Committee Health Care Efficiency Research, ZonMw
