Jan Anthonie BruijnMinister of Health, Welfare and Sport
Born on 7 February 1958 in The Hague, married
Party: People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)
Care is the most rewarding of fields, because it is one that every person comes into contact with. Working together, we – science, government and society – can build a health and care sector that is meaningful and future-proof. By nurturing talent, pursuing transparent policy and giving patients an active role in their care.
Accessible and affordable care, including:
Health insurance excess
Care avoidance
Healthcare benefit
Co-payment
Medicines
Medical devices
Labour market, including:
Drastically reducing time spent on paperwork
Labour-saving care
Innovation, medical technology, digitalisation, IT, AI, electronic patient records
Professional training
Tackling violence against health professionals
Healthcare Professions Act and Top Incomes (Standardisation) Act
Health Insurance Act, including:
Cooperation between primary healthcare providers
Care package management
General practitioner care
Dental care
Emergency care, regions, medical care landscape
Pregnancy and childbirth
Hospital care and regional hospitals
Infectious disease control
General ministerial tasks, including:
Ownership tasks for various parts of the ministry organisation
Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ)
Good governance, regularity and fraud prevention
Comprehensive Healthcare Agreement, appropriate care and proven effectiveness
5 September 2025
Appointed Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Schoof government
July 2019 – 5 September 2025
President of the Senate
November 2012 – July 2019
Member of the Senate for the VVD
1996 – February 2025
Professor of Immunopathology (specialising in renal pathology), Leiden University Medical Centre
1993 – 1996
Senior lecturer, Leiden University
1990 – 1991
Visiting research fellow, Harvard University Medical School, Boston, US
1989 – 1990 and 1991 – 1993
Lecturer in Pathology, Leiden University Hospital and Leiden University
1985 – 1988
Doctoral research project. Received doctorate from Leiden University; title of dissertation: ‘Polyclonal B-cell stimulation and extracellular matrix in experimental glomerulonephritis’
1984 – 1989
Specialisation in pathology, Leiden University Hospital
1976 – 1984
Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Various party political positions including chair of the national VVD election programme committee in 2010, 2012 and 2017, member of the election programme committee for the South Holland provincial council and various roles within the Wassenaar branch of the VVD.
