Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM)

RIVM is responsible for a wide range of issues relevant for regulators on the national (and regional) level in the Netherlands. The Laboratory for Toxicology, Pathology and Genetics investigates the implications of exogenous influences on health. Its major task is identifying both positive and negative effects after exposure to exogenous stimuli and the influence of internal factors like genetic background on the effect of such exposures.

Dr WH De Jong (DVM, PhD) is a leading specialist in Experimental Pathobiology, and Toxicological Pathology. He is chairman (2000-) of the Dutch Normalisation/Standardisation Committee for Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices.  He is member of the ISO TC Biological evaluation of medical devices since 1994, and chairman of the corresponding European CEN TC since 2001. Currently he is member of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (DG Health and Consumer Protection, EC) (2004-) and a Member of the editorial board of Biomaterials (2002-). He is currently involved in the safety evaluation and risk assessment of biomaterials/medical devices, in-vitro effects of materials on cells, histopathology of implants, determination of (immuno) toxicity, and testing for hypersensitivity including alternatives.

Prof. Dr Dik van de Meent is a leading expert in modelling fate and effects of toxic substances in the environment. He has contributed to RIVM’s environmental modelling research for over 20 years, particularly via implementation of the multimedia fate model SimpleBox as a basis of the EU risk assessment model EUSES. As senior environmental chemist at RIVM, Van de Meent focuses on designing and applying risk assessment models of toxic substances. As a professor in environmental quality at Radboud University Nijmegen, he leads the environmental fate and effects section of the Department of Environmental Science.