Passing of prof. dr. Arthur Bergen

Last week we received the sorrow news that prof. dr. Arthur Bergen, head of the Opthalmogenetic department at the Amsterdam UMC, passed away on Sunday 15 September. Over the last decades, Prof. Bergen performed groundbreaking research on the cause and treatment of heritable eye-disorders. He started his work in 1996 at the Interuniversity Ophthalmological Institute (IOI-KNAW) and continued at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN-KNAW). In 2013, he moved his research team to the Human Genetics department at the Amsterdam UMC.

His research was based on the registrations of people with hereditary eye disorders available in Amsterdam. His knowledge in the field resulted in many successful collaborations with people in- and outside the NIN, national and international. Later, he focused on potential therapies for heritable eye disorders. On 10 November 2023, he received a special award (the ‘Snellenpenning’), for his extraordinary contribution to the field of ophthalmology.

We will miss prof. Bergen’s extraordinary passion for molecular genetic research to eye disorders. On behalf of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, we wish his family and loved ones strength through this difficult period.

Image: Jeroen van Kooten