Meet the Team

Dirk holds a M.Sc in Molecular Sciences from Wageningen University and a PhD in Molecular Genetics from Groningen University.

Dirk started his career at Unilever at its central Research facility as research manager involved in protein engineering. After spending several years at Unilever’s head office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, he was promoted to various R&D and Innovation leadership roles of increasing seniority. Dirk lived and worked in Europe, North America and Africa.

In 2005,  Dirk joined Mead Johnson, which at that moment was a division of Bristol Meyer Squibb, as Senior Vice President R&D, with the mandate to significantly upgrade the R&D capabilities at Mead Johnson. Dirk’s responsibilities included Discovery, Regulatory, Medical Affairs, Clinical Research, Quality Compliance and Product Development, including regional and local R&D. Following the IPO of Mead Johnson, Dirk continued as Chief Scientific Officer and member of the Executive Leadership team of the company. After the acquisition by Reckitt Benckiser, he was instrumental at integrating MJN in RB.

As Chief Scientific Officer Dirk held a number of adjunct faculty positions, including Medical and Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine and at the Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dirk complemented his technical acumen with an MBA and recently the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Leading a bio-tech company has been a life-long dream of Dirk and was the logical next step in his career.