In Memoriam Dr. Dirk Jan Bakker, MD, PhD
On 10th December dr Dirk Jan Bakker passed away on the age of 83.
Dr. Bakker was a general and transplant surgeon, trained by Professor Boerema and Professor Brummelkamp and therefore he gained great interest in hyperbaric and diving medicine. His PhD thesis was “The Influence of Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment on Aerobic and Anaerobic Soft Tissue Infections which showed up as one of the greatest patient studies in this field. He wrote several chapters on this topic in the international handbooks and guidelines for more than 30 years.
In 1990 he was the chairman of the faculty and organizing committee of the first joint UHMS/EUBS meeting in Amsterdam. Since 1996 he was the medical director of the Academic Medical Center (AMC) and after his retirement he continue to work as a member of the medical ethical committee and chairman of the animal ethics committee of the AMC.
Dr. Bakker was a member of the UHMS, the EUBS, the ICHM and was a founding member of the European Committee on Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM). His awards included the Boerema award (1987) and the Charles Shilling Award of the UHMS (1992). He was a fellow of the UHMS and an officer in the Order of Orange Nassau in the Netherlands.
Dr. Dirk Jan Bakker will be remembered as an excellent and congenial educator with an impressive career and substantial contributions in the field of hyperbaric medicine.
Rob van Hulst, MD, PhD, FUHM
Professor Hyperbaric and Diving Medicine, dept Anesthesiology
Amsterdam University Medical Center