Tamara van Ark (born 11 August 1974) is a Dutch politician of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD). She served as Minister for Medical Care from 9 July 2020 until 3 September 2021 and as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from 26 October 2017 until 9 July 2020 in the

Cabinet Rutte III The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democra ...

Early life and education

Van Ark received a propaedeutic diploma from the Rotterdam Hogeschool voor Economische Studies (now named the

Rotterdam Business School Rotterdam Business School (RBS; distinct from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University) was founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1990 as the International School of Economics Rotterdam, which developed study programmes in English. ...

) of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences in 1994. She went subsequently to the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

where she obtained an MSc degree in

Public Administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

in 1998.

Political career

Career in local politics

As a member of the

, Van Ark was an

alderwoman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members th ...

of the former municipality of

Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel (; population: 22,344 in 2004) is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Since 2010 it is part of the new municipality of Zuidplas. It is situated along the Holland ...

from 2004 to 2010 and of its successor, the

Zuidplas Zuidplas () is a municipality in the Netherlands located in the province of South Holland. It was established on 1 January 2010 by the joining of Moordrecht, Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, and Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle. It had a population of 41,753 as ...

municipality in 2010.

Career in national politics

In the 2010 Dutch general election, Van Ark was elected to the House of Representatives (or Second Chamber). As a parliamentarian from 17 June 2010, she focused on matters of

long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and ...

. She was also involved, with other officeholders, with a law proposal against labour discrimination of homosexuals. Van Ark was reelected to the House of Representatives in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. She remaine a member of the House of Representatives until her appointment as State Secretary on 26 October 2017.

Minister of Medical Care, 2020–2021

On 9 July 2020, Van Ark succeeded Martin van Rijn as Minister for Medical Care. Since 2020, she has also been a member of the

Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance The Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance consists of world leaders and experts from across sectors working together to accelerate political action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Group performs an independent global advisory and ...

, co-chaired by

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...

and

Mia Mottley Mia Amor Mottley, (born 1 October 1965) is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold ...

. Following the 2021 national elections, Van Ark and

Wouter Koolmees Wouter Koolmees (born 20 March 1977) is a Dutch economist and politician and of the Democrats 66 (D66) party who has been serving as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Third Rutte cabinet since 2017. He also served as second Deput ...

of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

party were chosen to lead their parties' negotiations on a

coalition agreement A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

.Eline Schaart and William Adkins (March 25, 202)
Coronavirus outbreak, resignations interrupt Dutch coalition talks
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

References

External links

*
Drs. T. (Tamara) van Ark
at the PDC Biographical Archive (''Parlement.com''), by the Parliamentary Documentary Centre of Leiden University *
Tamara van Ark
at the Dutch government English language website 1974 births Living people 20th-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Aldermen in South Holland Dutch management consultants Dutch social workers Women government ministers of the Netherlands Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands People from Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel Politicians from The Hague People from Zuidplas People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians State Secretaries for Social Affairs of the Netherlands {{Netherlands-VVD-politician-stub