Dr J.P. Medema (b. 1968) has been appointed professor of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA).

Jan Paul Medema studied Chemistry at Leiden University and obtained his PhD degree at Utrecht University under supervision of Prof. Hans Bos. After his doctoral research Medema specialised in the mechanistic aspects of cell deaths, first at Prof. P.H. Krammer’s laboratory in Heidelberg and later at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). He received a Vidi subsidy from NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) in 2001 for this research. Medema has been working as head of the Laboratory for Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology at the Academic Medical Center of the UvA since June 2005 and will be continuing his research there on tumor cell deaths. He has furthermore recently become member of the Board of the Oncology Graduate School Amsterdam and member of the AMC Research Council.

In his new function Medema considers one of his most important tasks to raise oncological research to an international and competitive level and to keep it at this level, with a key position for chemotherapeutical, immunological and radiobiological aspects of tumor cell deaths. Apart from pre-clinical research tracks, Medema will be focusing on translational research aimed at the manipulation of cell deaths in cancer patients.