Jaap Tamino van Dissel (born 29 April 1957) is a Dutch

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...

and

infectiologist Infectious diseases or ID, also known as infectiology, is a medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infections. An infectious diseases specialist's practice consists of managing nosocomial ( healthcare-acquired) infections or ...

. Van Dissel is director of the (CIb) of the

Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment ( nl, Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu or simply RIVM) is a Dutch research institute that is an independent agency of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. RIVM perf ...

(RIVM). He is also

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at the Leiden University with specialization Internal Medicine, in particular infectious diseases. __TOC__

Life

Van Dissel was born on 29 April 1957 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. He obtained his doctorate at Leiden University in 1987 with a thesis titled: "Divergent bactericidal activity of resident and activated macrophages for Salmonella typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes". He became a professor of internal medicine, in particular infectious diseases, at Leiden University in 2000. In 2013 he succeeded as head of the .

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

In 2020, Van Dissel became well-known as chairman of the (OMT), a nonpartisan committee which is responsible for advising the

Third Rutte cabinet 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 Democracy ...

regarding suitable measures for the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands The COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus reached the Netherlands on 27 February 2020, when its first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Tilburg. It involved a 56-year-old Dutchman ...

. He has received criticism from colleagues and international equivalents, as done by his American equivalent Anthony Fauci after Van Dissel advised against usage of cloth face masks. At that time van Dissel feared that his fellow citizens could assume wearing cloth face masks as the only and seemingly sufficient measure and ignore all the other hygiene measures. On 6 May 2021 it was announced that van Dissel would receive the Academy Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences on 31 May 2021 for his work as scientific advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1957 births Living people COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands Dutch virologists Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Physicians from Amsterdam {{COVID-19-stub