He graduated in Pharmacy and Law at the Utrecht University. He has been deputy Head of the Unit Medicines and Devices in the Ministry of Health in The Netherlands from 1992 – 1999 with the Dutch implementation of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Psychotropic Substances Convention as a direct responsibility. From 1999 – February 2007 he was a drug regulator at the Medicines Evaluation Board, active in many international organizations (such as the WHO, European Medicines Agency, Pharmaceutical Committee). Since 2007 he has been active in private law.