Board of Directors
Bernard Mulder, MD, MBA has more than two decades of experience in the life sciences industry. He worked for Organon for 12 years, of which he spent 10 years abroad in Asia, Europe and the USA. He held several medical, marketing, sales and managerial positions in the different countries. After returning to the Netherlands, he worked as Global VP Marketing, Sales and Business Development for Avantium Pharma.
In 2011, Bernard co-founded Eagle Rock Life Sciences to support life sciences enterprises from early start-ups to mature companies (hands-on) and also invested in start-ups. Most recently, he worked for Boehringer Ingelheim for the medical department. Bernard earned his medical degree at Leiden University and his MBA from New York Institute of Technology.
Prof. Dr. Frank P. Luyten, MD, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the KU Leuven, Belgium.
After a residency in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the University Hospitals in Ghent, Belgium, he completed a postdoctoral training in cartilage and bone biology under the mentorship of AH Reddi at the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, USA. In 1992, he became Group Leader at this same Institute. In 1997, he accepted the position of Head of the Division of Rheumatology at the University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium. He also became director of the Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Center and of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary platform for Skeletal Tissue Engineering at the KU Leuven, Belgium.
He belongs to the few academicians that can bridge the gap between bench and bedside and make a successful translation of innovative treatments to the patient and market. As co-founder of TiGenix, he was instrumental in the development of ChondroCelect™, the first cell based ATMP with central registration at the European Medicines Agency. Prof. Luyten is/was member of the board of Directors of several SMEs and serves as Medical and Scientific Advisor for the biotech/pharma sector, in particular for regenerative medicine products.Drs. Tom Oostrom (1964) has been Managing Director of the Dutch Kidney Foundation since 2010. He started as head of the policy section in 2005. With the motto "Life comes first" the Kidney Foundation gives everything to make sure kidney patients survive ánd their quality of life improves. Tom Oostrom learned from practice: he started out as a nurse. His drive is to make a real difference for kidney patients, to help make their lives livable.
Since 2012 Oostrom has been the chair of the cooperating healthcare funds (Samenwerkende Gezondheidsfondsen) in which 21 large funds are united. He is also a member of the Regiegroep Life Sciences & Health and is committed to promote active involvement of healthcare funds in the topsector policy. Oostrom is also vice-president of the NPHF, Federation for Health.In Leiden Oostrom studied to become a nurse (1986). He studied Policy & Management in Healthcare at Erasmus University Rotterdam (1991).
After his study at Nyenrode Business University, he obtained his MBA from the KU in Leuven, Belgium. Nearly 25 years he has worked for the pharmaceutical company Organon/ Schering-Plough, mainly abroad: Germany, India, Finland, México and France. He held several senior managerial positions in those countries. Also he lead a team responsible for the development and worldwide commercialization of new fertility products. Thereafter he switched to the cure and care market in the Netherlands with consultancy and interim-management activities (e.g. elderly care, palliative care). In addition he is examiner/ supervisor International Business at the HAN, University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Bart Geers, PharmD, PhD obtained a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Ghent University in 2013 and began his career in the pharmaceutical industry and afterwards took various roles in research management and spin-out creation at Ghent University. Currently, Bart works as an investment manager for KULeuven Research & Development (LRD) where he coaches start-up projects in health- and biotechnology. Within that role he manages the spin-out; investment process and operational execution of high-tech spin-offs and represents the Gemma Frisius Fund (KU Leuven’s seed fund) as well. Next, he supports business development within KU Leuven R&D, the largest TTO in Europe. Bart holds board positions in various KU Leuven spin-offs.