The Supervisory Board at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht has appointed Professor J.L.L. (Jan) Kimpen as chairman of the Board of Directors at UMC Utrecht as of January 1, 2009. Kimpen will be taking over from Professor G.H. (Geert) Blijham, who has decided to step down after serving as chairman for ten years. Also on January 1, Professor F. (Frank) Miedema will succeed Jan Kimpen as dean and vice-chairman. Miedema is professor of immunology and currently chairs the Division of Laboratories and Pharmacy at UMC Utrecht.
Since October of 2007, Kimpen has been dean of UMC Utrecht and vice-chairman of the Board of Directors he will now chair. At the same time, the Board of Regents at Utrecht University has named Professor Miedema to be the new dean of medicine. He will be taking over from Kimpen. The Supervisory Board at UMC Utrecht has also appointed Miedema to be vice-chairman of the Board of Directors.
Blijham wishes the men success: “UMC Utrecht is a financially healthy, stable organization with great aspirations in the areas of patient care, research, and education and training. Being the chairman of an institution with ten thousand employees is like playing a top-level sport. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, and it’s given me a great deal of satisfaction. I’m very pleased with this new Board of Directors and wish them every success.”
Jan Kimpen (1958) studied medicine at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (“Catholic University of Leuven”) in Belgium, specializing in infectious diseases in children. In 1998 he was made professor of pediatrics, and as division chairman was also responsible for the Division of Pediatrics at UMC Utrecht. Kimpen has been a member of various Dutch and international scientific organizations. He was also chairman of the Dutch Pediatric Association NVK’s education council Concilium Paediatricum and chairman of its “Plenary Review Board for Pediatrics” (Plenaire Visitatie Commissie Kindergeneeskunde), and was the Dutch representative to the European Pediatric Association (EPA). He has published some 200 articles on viral respiratory infections and received a number of prizes for scientific research in pediatrics.
Frank Miedema (1954) studied biochemistry at the University of Groningen and specialized in immunology. As division manager, his responsibilities included education and research at the central laboratory of the blood transfusion service CLB, after which he served as director of Sanquin Research. Miedema was on staff at the University of Amsterdam as professor of the immunology of AIDS. In 2004, he was named head of the Department of Immunology at UMC Utrecht. He is a member of various Dutch and international scientific organizations and advisory boards. Miedema published hundreds of articles in scientific journals such as Nature, Science, and The Lancet.
As of January 1, 2009, the Board of Directors at UMC Utrecht will be made up of Professor J.L.L. (Jan) Kimpen (chairman), Professor F. (Frank) Miedema (dean and vice-chairman), H.H.J. (Herman) Bol (board member since 2002), and Colonel (Dr.) J. (Johan) de Graaf (board member since 2007, as part of UMC Utrecht’s working relationship with the Dutch Ministry of Defense).
Departing chairman Geert Blijham is an oncologist and professor, and for the last ten years has served as chairman of the Board of Directors at UMC Utrecht. He was also chairman of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU) for three years. In 2007 he won the “Jubilee Award” (Jubileum Award) as part of the selection of government manager of the year, for his outstanding performance over the course of his entire career.