Dr. Tom van der Poll is a distinguished medical scientist and leading authority in infectious diseases and sepsis research. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, where he has held faculty positions since 1992. After completing his medical degree at the University of Amsterdam in 1986, he specialized in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, subsequently completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at Cornell University Medical College in New York from 1993 to 1995. His career trajectory has been marked by significant leadership roles, including serving as Chair of Research Support at the Academic Medical Center from 2012 to 2016 and Chair of the Research Council from 2011 to 2016.
Dr. van der Poll's groundbreaking research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of sepsis and pneumonia, with particular focus on pathogenesis, host immune responses, and biomarker identification. His work has resulted in over 800 publications that have collectively shaped clinical approaches to severe bacterial infections worldwide. A seminal contribution was his leadership in the classification of sepsis patients according to blood genomic endotypes, which has refined diagnostic criteria and therapeutic strategies for this life-threatening condition. His research program uniquely integrates clinical observations with mechanistic studies using both human challenge models and genetically modified mouse systems, establishing him as a pioneer in translational immunology of infectious diseases.
Beyond his research achievements, Dr. van der Poll has been instrumental in shaping international sepsis management guidelines as a member of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Committee from 2014 to 2016 and the International Task Force Committee for Sepsis Definitions. He currently leads biomarker discovery initiatives in three major European projects on pneumonia, peritonitis and sepsis (COMBACTE-CARE, COMBACTE-MAGNET and SEPCELL), driving innovation in diagnostic approaches for critical infections. As an elected member of the prestigious Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2019, he continues to influence the global research agenda in infectious diseases. His ongoing work focuses on translating immunological insights into novel therapeutic strategies for sepsis, positioning his laboratory at the forefront of efforts to reduce the substantial mortality associated with severe infections worldwide.
