Pieter Reitsma

Emeritus professor Pieter Reitsma is a leading expert in coagulation and previous head of the department of Thrombosis and Hemostasis at LUMC. Pieter Reitsma has always worked at the interface of fundamental science and clinical applications. He is a translational scientist ‘avant la lettre’ who is among the very few to have brought drugs and diagnostic tests to the clinic. In the early stage of his career he did the experimental animal and in vitro work which was needed to bring the bisphosphonate APD to the clinic to successfully treat patients with destructive bone disease. Later he turned to the field of Hemostasis and Thrombosis where he made seminal contributions that made him world leader in the genetics of Hemostasis and Thrombosis. The test for factor V Leiden that he co-discovered is considered to be the most commonly performed genetic test in the world.