Willem van Mechelen

Willem van Mechelen works at the Department of Public and Occupational Health of VU University Medical Centre and is a professor of Occupational and Sports Medicine. He is non-executive board member of NL Actief, the umbrella organisation of the fitness industry in The Netherlands. Willem van Mechelen (1952) was born and raised in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After completion of his training as a PE-teacher he worked for 9 years at an Amsterdam high school. He combined this with studying medicine at the University of Amsterdam. After his certification as an MD in 1982 he started working at various out-patient clinics as a sports and occupational physician. He also started in that year his scientific career with a part-time appointment at the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. He earned his PhD in Human Movement Sciences in 1992. He also is a board certified occupational physician and a registered epidemiologist. He holds adjunct professorial positions at the Universities of Cape Town (SA), Queensland (AUS) and Dublin (UCD, IE). He was awarded lifetime achievement award of ACSM (citation award) and the Dutch College of Occupational Physicians (Burger penning). He is an honorary member of the Dutch College of Occupational Physicians and of the Royal Dutch College of PE Teachers. He was knighted by the King of The Netherlands in the order of the Dutch Lion.