Prof. Bouke de Jong has led the mycobacteriology unit at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp since 2010. She trained in medicine at the University of Amsterdam, epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, and completed clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases in Reno and at Stanford, where she became involved in the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis in San Francisco. Her PhD research, based in the Gambia, focused on strain differences within the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Her unit’s work spans improved diagnostics for tuberculosis, leprosy, and Buruli ulcer; mechanisms of virulence and drug resistance; molecular epidemiology; and treatment strategies. As the WHO’s coordinating supranational TB reference laboratory, the unit has provided global proficiency testing for decades and maintains the world’s largest M. tuberculosis strain collection, including a publicly accessible subset. They also support diagnostics for clinical care and trials of novel TB treatments.

Prof. de Jong co-coordinates ITM’s master’s degree in tropical medicine and the annual short course on drug-resistant TB for frontline clinicians. She is an active mentor to PhD students, including those working in high-burden settings.