Hanneke Schuitemaker is Chief Scientific Officer at Valneva and Professor of Virology at Amsterdam UMC, bringing three decades of experience spanning academic virology and industrial vaccine development.

Before joining Valneva in 2024, she spent fourteen years at Janssen Vaccines and Prevention (Johnson and Johnson) as Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine, where she led programmes across HIV-1, polio, HPV, Ebola, COVID-19, RSV and influenza. Earlier in her career she researched HIV pathogenesis at Sanquin and at Amsterdam University Medical Center.

Her work has been recognised internationally. In 2020 she was named among Fierce Pharma’s 22 Most Influential People in the Fight against COVID-19, and in 2023 she received the Society Medal from the Royal Netherlands Society for Natural, Medical and Health Sciences, an award granted to only a small number of scientists since 1792. She has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications.

Hanneke is also an advocate for gender diversity in biotechnology, working to increase the representation of women in science and in leadership.