Eric Claassen is an immunologist and serial life sciences entrepreneur, and Emeritus Professor at the Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

He was Professor of Immunology at Erasmus MC and subsequently Professor of Valorisation there. In 2001 he was appointed the first Biopartner Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Life Sciences, on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. He has supervised around forty PhD candidates and is senior author on close to 300 peer-reviewed papers and patents.

Eric has founded and sold several Dutch biotechnology companies, including Viroclinics Biosciences, and is founder and CEO of ViroNovative. He chairs the Industry Advisory Board of Intravacc, and has served as chair or member of supervisory boards including AM-Pharma and Viroclinics Biosciences. He received the Dutch NGI Valorisation Award for excellence in deal making with industry.