Prof. dr. H.M.W. Verheul MD, PhD

Professor Henk Verheul M.D. Ph.D is a medical oncologist and chair of the department of Medical Oncology Department and chair of the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute at Erasmus Medical center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In addition, he is a visiting professor of Medical Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. As a translational researcher, he has an expertise in phase-I clinical trials and gastrointestinal cancer focusing on colorectal cancer.

As a translational researcher, his translational and clinical research focus is mainly directed towards new therapies for colorectal cancer. Incorporation of pharmacokinetics and dynamics, novel biomarkers, personalized therapy and quality of life has been key elements of these research activities. He has been the Principle Investigator of more than 30 investigator-initiated trails. The research in his department is aimed at establishing individualized treatments of patients with solid tumors that are highly effective with minimal side effects in a socially responsible manner.

Henk Verheul received his medical degree at Erasmus MC and completed his internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship at the University Medical Center of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He obtained his PhD (cum laude) At the VU University, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, studying the activation of coagulation and angiogenesis in cancer. During his PhD, he was a research fellow at the Children’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, USA (Laboratory of Vascular Biology).

Career

As a medical oncologist, Henk Verheul participated in a Drug Development Fellowship Program at the Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Baltimore, USA before he started as chair of the department of Medical Oncology of the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam in 2008. After shortly working at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (2019-2022), he started as chair of the Medical Oncology of Erasmus MC in September 2022.