Henk Streefkerk was born in Indonesia and adopted into a Dutch family. He was raised in The Netherlands and after finishing High School (Gymnasium) with ancient Greek, he attended Medical School at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Henk temporarily interupted his studies in favor of scientific research at the department of Neurosurgery (Prof Tulleken) at the University Medical Center in Utrecht. Before he obtained his PhD, he finished Medical School (MD). During his residency Otorhinolaryngology he obtained his PhD in Neurovascular surgery.
Henk started his career in the Pharmaceutical Industry as a Clinical Pharmacology Research Manager working on various products at Organon, Oss, the Netherlands, and went through the integration with Schering-Plough. He then moved to Switzerland to first join Actelion as a Clinical Pharmacologist (pulmonary hypertension and anticoagulation), and then transitioned to Novartis as a Translational Medicine Expert in the Cardiovascular Franchise (anticoagulation, hypertension, and heart failure).
Within Novartis he moved to the role of Brand Safety Leader in the Cardiovascular Franchise (hypertension, heart failure), and was promoted to Senior Brand Safety Leader. Upon request, Henk moved to the same role in the Oncology Franchise (breast cancer).
After almost 9 years at Novartis, Henk joined PIQUR as a Multi-Program Medical Director for all indications (oncologic and dermatologic diseases). Within a few months, he also became the Drug Safety Officer for PIQUR.
In 2019 Henk was promoted to PIQUR’s Chief Medical Officer. In July 2020 he also founded the consultancy company “Streefkerk Life Science Consultancy (SLSC)”. He is a Faculty Member of Path2Pharma on Pharmacovigilance and is a guest lecturer Drug Safety at the ETH Zurich.