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Dr S. van der Baan (1962) has been appointed Professor of Mucosal pathology of the upper respiratory tract including the ear at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Medicine (UvA-AMC).

Bert van der Baan’s activities in the area of patient care centre on the treatment of ear disorders and paediatric otolaryngology. He is also responsible for the UvA-AMC’s otolaryngology study programme. Van der Baan will conduct research on infection processes in the middle ear mucosa. Unfortunately, biopsies of the middle ear mucosa are difficult to obtain and do not generally yield sufficient biopsy material. For this reason, Van der Baan applies the expertise of the otolaryngology department laboratory, which engineers small quantities of tissue. This yields more material for research on infectious reactions in the mucosa caused by external factors such as allergenic and reflux factors and viral and bacterial factors. This could contribute to the development of causal treatments for common conditions such as otitis media with effusion (‘glue ear’) in children, to replace the current symptomatic treatment with tympanostomy tubes, which is a far more drastic and costly procedure.

Van der Baan previously worked as an ear, nose and throat doctor at the Tergooi hospitals in Blaricum. During this time, he also served as a B instructor (trainer in routine and general competencies) at the Rotterdam Erasmus Medical Centre’s otolaryngology department, staff member at UMC Utrecht’s otolaryngology department and consultant to the Asthma Centre in Hilversum. Between 1994 and 2000, Van der Baan served as Vice-Chairman of the Dutch Society for Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. In 2000, the Dutch Otolaryngology Society awarded Van der Baan an honorary medal in recognition of his contributions to the field.