Tom van der Poll - Biography#

Tom van der Poll is Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine in the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Van der Poll is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. His training included a postdoctoral research fellowship in Cornell University Medical College in New York (1993-1995).

Van der Poll’s research focuses on the understanding of the immunopathology and immune therapy of pneumonia and sepsis. As a medical doctor and translational scientist, he has been highly committed throughout his career to bridge fundamental and clinical science. In his research he therefore combines observational studies in patients (e.g., deep immunological profiling) with early interventional studies in humans and mechanistic studies using in-house developed mouse models. He successfully supervised 79 PhD students to completion of their academic thesis; seven former PhD students now are full Professors.

Van der Poll served as a member of the Dutch Health Council (advisory board Dutch government; 2013-2015). In 2019 Van der Poll was elected in The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences – a lifetime membership for the best scientists in the Netherlands from all fields.