His impact on Hepatology cannot be emphasized enough. During his long career he positioned himself as a molecular hepatologist. He was a keen proponent of laboratory research as the fundamental basis to understand disease process. 2 As a clinician he was able to add relevant clinical data points allowing him to integrate science into clinical reality. 3 His ability to integrate knowledge from smaller independent projects caught the interest of the German Systems Medicine in Liver Research (LiSyM). LiSyM is a network that adopts a system medicine approach to metabolic and cholestatic liver disease. After his retirement he became their program director, tirelessly promoting collaboration between molecular and cell biologists, clinical researchers, pharmacologists and experts in mathematical modeling in a multidisciplinary research network.

His research experience brought him to scientific committees of charities and governmental organizations making decisions that impacted Hepatology. He was chairman of Dutch Association for Hepatology (NVH) and in 2014 was appointed as a honorary member in recognition of his national and international standing in the field of Hepatology and his advocacy work for the NVH.