prof. dr. Ronald de Groot
(1948, Rotterdam, the Netherlands) is a member of a large number of national and international societies. He was chairman of the Pediatric Association of The Netherlands (1998 – 2004). At the moment he is member of the Health Council of the Netherlands and the Dutch Central Committee on Research involving Human Subjects, both Crown appointments. He is the recipient of the 2008 Bill Marshall Award of ESPID. In 2011, he received the prestigious Edgar Doncker Prize for Paediatrics in recognition of his substantial contribution in the field of Paediatrics and in particular in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology. In May 2013 Ronald became President of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious diseases.
Ronald studied Medicine at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (MD, 1975), followed by a residency in Gynecology/Obstetrics and Surgery as a preparation for a 2% year period as Senior Medical Officer in St. Louis Hospital, Zonkwa, Nigeria. He subsequently did his paediatric residency (1979-1983) in the Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam under the supervision of Professor Henk Visser and was chief resident from 1983 to 1985. In 1985 he went to the United States, where he was accepted for a research fellowship (1985-1988) in paediatric infectious diseases at the University of Washington, Seattle, under the supervision of Professor Arnold Smith. In the summer of 1988 he returned to the Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he initiated a programme in Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology in the Sophia Children’s Hospital. In 1991 he defended his PhD thesis entitled “Antibiotic Resistance in Haemophilus influenzae”. In 1998, Ronald became head of the PID training programme and Professor in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology in the Sophia Children’s Hospital/Erasmus University Medical Centre. During his tenure in Rotterdam he was involved in a large number of activities including a membership of the Board of Molecular Medicine (MOLMED), the largest research school in the Netherlands, treasurer of the Board of the Dutch Society of Infectious Diseases, secretary of Dutch Federation of Medical Societies and the director of a vaccine company, Vaxinostics, part of the Erasmus MC Holding.
Ronald is one of the founding members of the Dutch Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases as well as the Society’s first chairman, from 1994 – 1998. As an active member of ESPID since 1990, Ronald has been involved in many activities of the Society in the fields of research, teaching, education, training and organization of PID. May 1st 2005, he was appointed chair of the Department of Paediatrics of the University Medical Centre Nijmegen as well as Professor of Paediatrics at the Radboud University Nijmegen.