Nationality: Dutch
Position: Assistant Professor Virology, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
Research fields: Immunity against emerging viruses
Dr Corine Geurts van Kessel obtained her medical degree at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2004. In 2009, she achieved her PhD at the departments of Virology and Pulmonary Medicine, on the role of dendritic cell subsets in influenza virus immunity. After her training as a clinical microbiologist at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam she now works as a clinical microbiologist/virologist at the department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC.
As a clinical virologist, Corine Geurts van Kessel performs expert consultations for patients of the Erasmus MC and for other hospitals within and outside the Netherlands. She leads the diagnostic laboratories of serology and virus culture, and is a member of the WHO reference laboratory of viral hemorrhagic fever, arboviruses and SARS CoV-2. She has a specific (research) interest in filling the knowledge gaps in disease kinetics, immunity and diagnostics of (emerging) zoonotic infections.
The risk of emergence and spread of human pathogens originating from an animal reservoir has increased in the past decades, with COVID-19 being an example for the impact this can have.
It is her goal to contribute to a global approach in epidemic and pandemic preparedness against emerging viruses. She does this by combining her expertise in clinical virology and clinical studies with a keen interest in viral immunity.
