This landscape constitutes the backdrop for the three biographical narratives. Osterhaus started his career as a veterinarian at the RIVM (1978) and went to Rotterdam UMC in 1994. Coutinho worked at the Amsterdam GGD from 1977 until 2005, after which he moved to the CIDC. He has always been affiliated with the Amsterdam Medical Centre (AMC). Goudsmit also spent much of his career at the AMC; in 2002 he joined Crucell, a Dutch biotech vaccine company.