On Sunday 15 September, Prof. Arthur Bergen passed away. Arthur devoted his entire working life to the genetics of rare eye diseases. This started during his PhD research, and culminated in his appointment as professor of Ophthalmogenetics, and in his appointment as head of the research group of the same name. By his own admission, the start was much earlier, because as a 16-year-old he dreamt of working with DNA. Arthur received his PhD from LUMC in 1993 for a thesis entitled ‘Toward DNA diagnosis and Gene Cloning of Retinal Disease Genes’. Shortly afterwards, in 1996, he became head of the Department of Ophthalmogenetics at the Inter University Ophthalmological Institute (IOI), an institute of which he was also the mandated director for several years. The Ophthalmogenetics department moved first to the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience (NIN), and in 2013 to the Department of Human Genetics at the AMC, now Amsterdam UMC, but Arthur remained in charge. The registry of people with inherited eye disorders available in Amsterdam formed the basis of his research). 

Initially, Arthur was mainly concerned with finding new genes involved in eye diseases, but in recent years his focus shifted more and more towards the ultimate goal of curing patients. To achieve this, he was co-founder and board member of the Emma Centre for Personalized Medicine. Fortunately, he was still able to witness the first successful steps in the field of therapy for hereditary eye diseases and was very closely involved in this himself.

With Arthur we lose an internationally recognized top expert in the field of ophthalmogenetics, a highly driven researcher who was always aware of all developments in the field and knew how to translate them into his own research. He did not do his work alone, but in collaboration with many others in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and abroad. This resulted in more than 300 publications in international journals. He also mentored countless young scientists at the start of their careers, during and after their PhDs. Above all, however, we lose a highly valued friend and colleague, a very striking personality with whom it was good to drink a glass of red wine after a heated scientific debate.

We wish his wife and children every strength in coping with this great loss.

Prof Erik Sistermans

Head of the Department of Human Genetics