Over the years many recommendations have been put online via my LinkedIn profile. Here I have collected those and sorted them by the professional relationship I have had with the reference.
Former colleagues
Dr. Willem Bossers – Colleague at Lifelines where he was Sr. Project Manager (Roden, NL), now project lead at ZorgInstituut Nederland (Diemen, NL)
Translated from Dutch – ‘I think Wilfred is a great colleague to work with. He has a good sense of humor. In addition, Wilfred always puts his money where his mouth is, and he does not avoid a constructive discussion. He has great analytical skills and is able to make complex (project) issues (visually) simple, so that anyone who wants to can understand where the challenges lie that have to be solved in order to achieve the set goals.‘
Dr. Hilde Laeremans – Colleague at Lifelines where she is Lab head (Roden, NL)
Translated from Dutch – ‘Wilfred is a stress-resistant person who knows how to achieve objectives within the set term. In a complicated project, he tackled and dealt with all problems point by point. He is the relaxing centre of a team and ensures that motivation remains high.‘
Jurjen van Bolhuis, MSc – Colleague at Lifelines where he was Sr. Project Manager & Privacy officer (Roden, NL), now Privacy Office at TKP Pensions (Groningen, NL)
Translated from Dutch – ‘Wilfred is a pragmatic, skilled person that takes on every project in a structured manner. For two years, he has worked as project manager at Lifelines. During this period he was responsible for setting up the third collection round. He has helped me to find out how Lifelines can perform additional studies in parallel with this collection round. On each and every question I got a timely and well-argued response, making my work easier. Thanks to the contributions of Wilfred the first additional project could commence in January 2020.
As a colleague, Wilfred is always ready to answer questions and be a sparring partner for a good discussion. I have enjoyed working with him. Lastly, his dry humor will be missed.‘
Dr. Hana Cernecka – Colleague at the University of Groningen where she was a PhD student, now LaVP Head Innovate at Evotec (Hamburg, DE)
“I have known Wilfred since my PhD time at University of Groningen. Wilfred impressed me by his open and skillful mind. He shows high engagement, self-initiative and high interest for science. This can be reflected also by his initiative to join an educational program – Diploma in Advanced Pharmacology organized by British Pharmacological Society that we attended together. Wilfred has a huge knowledge in molecular biology and biochemistry. Wilfred has also outstanding didactic skills, he was an extremely friendly and helpful colleague.”
Dr. Pablo Muñoz LLancao – Colleague at the University of Groningen where he was a PhD student, now Associate Scientist at Yale University (CT, USA)
“Wilfred is an independent scientist with creativity that can be an asset for a research group in any field.
It is quite adaptable, and his knowledge of pharmacology helps to enrich the design of the experiments.
An excellent writer and always open to learning new skills and support the people around him.
Regards.
Pablo Muñoz Ph.D. “
Dr. Dörte Faust – Colleague at the FMP in Berlin where she was a PhD student, now Team Leader at Evotec (Hamburg, DE)
“Wilfred joined the Anchored Signalling group at Leibniz-Institute for Pharmacology, where we both worked on cAMP compartmentalization. He integrated rapidly and is an all-round funny guy who is easy to talk to. He has shown to be a skilled scientist who is very ambitious to improve himself and always eager to learn. His top level presentations were always well structured and designed. Wilfred is a great socialiser and will always find time to help, whether it’s connecting you to the right people, finding creative solutions to random problems or simply philosophizing about science.”
Former students
Dr. Haoxiao Zuo – My Master student at the University of Groningen, and my mentee during her PhD – now Scientist at Mendus AB (Leiden, NL).
“Wilfred is an excellent researcher who inspires me and helps me quite a lot during my internship in university of Groningen. Even now I am a also a PhD student, we still keep contact with each other, sharing about science, thoughts and life. He is also very friendly to colleagues and students and always willing to help.”
Dr. Heather Dahlin – I supervised Heather as a rotation student at the University of Washington and helped her get started on her PhD until my departure.
“Wilfred is an excellent and knowledgable scientist who was the best mentor I have had during my academic career. He always went above and beyond to make sure I was prepared for both my experiments and life. During my PhD rotation in the Scott lab, he not only encouraged critical thinking but precision in my project. He made sure I had proper technique and proper controls. He is one of the most exacting scientists I have ever met, and is extremely organized. He kept a detailed online lab journal where he could access any method for me instantly, and cataloged all his samples to the finest detail. While I may not have been happy that he calculated that my pipetting error was more than 20% at the start of my rotation, this kind of attention to detail has allowed me to become a better scientist.
Even though he is no longer in the lab, his thoughtfulness and experience continue to assist me in developing new experiments and thinking about my projects. For example, the past couple weeks I have been having difficulty thinking of new ideas to begin investigating a specific protein I am interested in. Wilfred had left me a stack of papers he thought would be useful for me, and the first one I randomly pick up is exactly what I need at this moment.
Finally, Wilfred always displayed great kindness and helpfulness in all the times I knew him. I have a disability that is ameliorated by the use of a service animal. I had an accident at the end of last May and had to go to the hospital. I was in despair because I couldn’t be admitted to that area of the hospital with my dog. Since I was relatively new to the area, without any family members nearby, I had to ask people I work with to help me in this situation. Wilfred got on the bus immediately and took my dog without complaints. He is the colleague anyone should be grateful to know and work with.”
Dr. Sabrina Kamran – Sabrina was a PhD student from a different department reaching out for mentoring and practical advice during my time at the University of Washington. Now Assistant Director, Alliances & Business Development at Boston’s Children’s Hospital (MA, USA).
” Wilfred is a wonderful, approachable mentor. He is always willing to help less senior students and discuss science in detail. I have had great sessions where we were creating models to understand data by drawing things out, discussing troubleshooting, and celebrate accomplishments. I can say Wilfred will always make the time for you and is incredibly knowledgeable in background literature on AKAPs in addition to experimental and biochemical approaches.”
Sjoerd de Haan, BSc – Sjoerd was a student technician at the University of Groningen. Now account manager at VWR (Northern Netherlands, NL)
“The best mentor I’ve had during my internships. Wilfred was my supervisor during my junior internship (6 months) for Molecular Pharmacology. I was impressed by Wilfred’s talent for designing and analysing research experiments. He installs a lot of confidence in his students and gives them space to develop as researchers. I have learned (and continue to learn) a lot from his knowledge in Life Science. Receiving guidance from Wilfred leaves you well equipped for the field!”
Former Teacher
Dr. Feike R van der Leij – Feike was my teacher and supervisor during two of my internships at the UMCG, currently lector and lecturer at two Applied Universities.
“Wilfred was an excellent student in our Life Sciences department. As his supervisor of two internships within his Biotech study I have been pleased by his attitude. Eager, keen and technically skilled he has performed these projects with a characteristic search for perfection. Also in the classroom he stood out, demonstrating his ability to think and act “academically.” Therefore, his next move to go for a masters degree seems like a logical one to me.”
