Management Team
Research Results
TI Pharma's Management Team is formed by a Managing Director Willem N.G.M. de Laat, MD PhD MBA and Scientific Director Ton Rijnders, PhD.
Willem de Laat, MD PhD MBA
Currently, (2008-2012), Dr. Willem de Laat is the Managing Director of Top Institute Pharma, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Before joining Top Institute Pharma, Dr. de Laat held several management positions at Organon in the Netherlands as well as in the United States (2003-2007), the latest of which being Executive Vice President, CMO of Organon International between 1997 and 2007. His responsibilities included medical affairs, registration, drug safety, clinical quality affairs and litigation. As CMO he made more than 300 trips abroad.
Dr. de Laat was trained as a gynecologist and holds a PhD. He has published approximately 20 papers in various scientific journals, is co-author of several educational books and has held around 50 presentations and chairmanships at many (world) congresses and symposia. In 1992 he received his Executive MBA at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and Rochester, USA.
Additionally, Dr. de Laat served in various capacities in several governmental organizations. He was a member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Clinical trial Foundation. He was a member of the cie that evaluated the Medical Technology Education of Twenthe University, Netherlands. in 2011.
Currently he is member of advisory Board of Schuttelaar Communications, Board member Lead Pharma Holding B.V., and Member of the Supervisory Board Hockey Club Klein Zwitserland.
Ton Rijnders, PhD
Ton Rijnders was appointed Scientific Director of Top Institute Pharma in November 2011. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology.
Before joining Top Institute Pharma, Ton Rijnders held several management positions at Organon (1986-2011).
His scientific expertise during that period included the development of new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and development of new monoclonal antibody technologies, specific immunotherapy as well as pharmacological research for the therapeutic areas Hormone Replacement, Infertility, Contraception, Immunology and Cardiovascular. He headed the Departments of Immunology and Pharmacology prior to his appointment as Senior VP Research NV Organon. His responsibilities were further broadened with the inclusion of the Toxicology and Process Chemistry Departments in Riom (France). After the acquisition of Organon by Schering-Plough in 2007, Ton was appointed VP Discovery and Site Head Oss within the Schering-Plough Research Institute being also the local lead for the combined SPRI functions in The Netherlands and as such member of the local site management. After the merger of Merck with Schering-Plough he continued to head Discovery in Oss within the Merck Research Labs, maintaining also local responsibility for the entire MRL Oss organization until September 2011.
Ton Rijnders is member of several scientific and professional societies. He has served as chairman of the executive board of TI Pharma and he is also a member of the supervisory board of the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, the Netherlands consortium for Systems Biology and the Netherlands BioInformatics Centre, which are consortia of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative. He is also involved in the committee defining roadmaps for the governmental policy for the Dutch life sciences sector.
“One of TI Pharma's big strengths is that it knows how to manage money. That's a skill that should be more widespread.”
Tim Wells
Chief Scientific Officer
Medicines for Malaria Venture