As the Oral Cavity & Oropharyngeal Cancer/Cervical Cancer Venture Leader for the Disease Interception Accelerator (DIA), Gert is responsible for leading efforts focused on these diseases within the DIA, creating solutions that will enable the detection of pre-cancer in the earliest stages and allowing intervention with interception solutions.
Gert joined Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in 2011 and serves as the early Compound Development Team Leader of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine program. As part of that program, Gert works to develop and launch a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of high-risk HPV infections that can lead to cervical cancer. With his experience in interception strategies from the HPV program, Gert brings a wealth of knowledge to the DIA and Oral Cavity & Oropharyngeal Cancer/Cervical Cancer venture.
Prior to joining J&J Gert worked as Associate Professor at the Department of Child Neurology, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, with a focus on inherited diseases that affect the white matter of the brain. He has contributed to several book chapters, is co-author of more than 70 peer-reviewed papers and was a member of the Scientific Research Committee of the VUmc and member of the scientific board for the Rubicon grants of the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research.
Gert received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Utrecht and his Master of Science in Molecular Sciences from the Wageningen University.