vst ::: biography :: professor eric j.h.m. claassen

Department of Food of Animal Origin, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University,
The Netherlands h.j.h.m.claassen@id.dlo.nl

In 1981, Professor Claassen graduated with an honours degree in Biology from the Vrije (Free) University in Amsterdam. From the same university, he attained a Masters degree in Medical Biology (1984) and three years later a PhD in Immunology. After a short period of postdoctoral research work in Memphis, Tenessee, he returned to The Netherlands to work as a project leader in the Immunology Section of the TNO Medical Biological Laboratory. He was soon promoted to Section Head of Immunology, then to Chairman of the Department of Immunology and Medical Microbiology. Finally he became Deputy Chief of the Division of Immunological and Infectious Diseases. During his years with TNO, he also acted as a consultant to SyStemix, Palo Alto, California, and M6 Pharmaceuticals, New York.

Professor Claassen is currently Director of Research and Deputy Director General at the Dutch Institute for Animal Science and Health, Lelystad (ID-Lelystad). He is Professor of Cellular Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science at Rotterdam's Erasmus University and at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Utrecht. Since 1992, he has been a visiting professor at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where he teaches on the immunology courses. He is a board member for three graduate schools, all of which are accredited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), and of the Foundation for Post Academic Veterinary Education. He is an elected member of several prestigious advisory groups and commitees, including the Dutch Health Council. In the past, he has held many esteemed positions including Secretary General of the Dutch Society for Immunology (> 1200 members) and Chairman of NATO's PG 32, a committee set up to advise on handheld detection kits for biological weapons defence.

Although Professor Claassen is still an active member of the scientific community, - he is currently the supervisor to seven PhD students, is a holder of three patents related to scientific research findings and is the author of some 175 papers, 70% of which are published in peer reviewed journals - his main focus of work is now on research management and business development. At ID-Lelystad, he introduced the writing of business plans by all eleven of its departments and by the institute as a whole; he also ensured that the institute conforms to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) quality systems, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and STERLAB, the Dutch laboratory standards accreditation system issued by the Dutch Accreditation Council. He also introduced a structured patenting system. He has been highly successful at attracting new business and a number of strategic alliances to ID-Lelystad. Recently, he has worked with venture capitalists to establish several small biotechnology enterprises at the institute and acts as a consultant for a number of other biotechnology companies and venture funds (eg Novartis and Gilde). His latest project, in conjunction with the province of Flevoland, is to establish a BioScience Park in Lelystad.

Professor Claassen views himself as an analytical, communicative manager of professional people who work in a rapidly changing environment. He specifically looks for unexpected and productive combinations between disciplines in the biomedical sciences.