vst ::: biography :: dr. martje fentener van vlissingen

Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
P.O. Box 360, 3700 AG, Zeist, The Netherlands Fentener@voeding.tno.nl

In 1981, Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen graduated in Veterinary Medicine from Utrecht University, The Netherlands. During her studies, from 1974-1981, she was the undergraduate students' representative in several official capacities, including for the Council and Board of the Veterinary Faculty and as secretary to the committee that looked at the faculty's novel two-phase curriculum. She also undertook some basic research as an additional activity, for her own interest.

On finishing her veterinary degree, Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen spent a year in the United States at North Carolina State University's, then, newly founded School of Veterinary Medicine, where she was a visiting instructor in the Department of Anatomy, Physiological Sciences and Radiology. She returned to Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine to join the research group in the Department of Functional Morphology and a year later started her PhD under the supervision of Professor C.J.G. Wensing. During the course of her PhD, Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen received the L.Bolk Prize from the Netherlands Society of Anatomy and, in 1988, was awarded a special recommendation for her thesis, enitled 'Models of testicular descent, in vivo and in vitro'. Her PhD work was funded by a grant awarded by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (ZWO).

Next, Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen had a one year postdoctoral position at the Institute for Animal Nutrition (Dutch Ministry of Agriculture), Lelystad, before working as a researcher/veterinarian in the Department of Animal Nutrition at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO Nutrition, Zeist. From 1991 until 1994, she was Head of Biotechnology in the organisation's Department of Experimental Biology and then became their Animal Welfare Officer, a position she still holds. In addition, she is a consultant and auditor for quality management systems in animal production for, amongst others, the Dutch Board of Accreditation.

Other professional positions she holds include: Chair of the Committee of Animal Welfare Officers for the Dutch Society of Laboratory Animal Science, Member of the National Committee on Biotechnology in Animals and, as Secretary of the DEC-Consult Foundation, she is responsible for the Ethics Committee that advises research organisations that have chosen not to have their own in-house committee for the ethical evaluation of experiments on animals.

Dr. Fentener van Vlissingen's specific fields of interest are animal health and welfare, the refinement of experimental procedures and bioethics.