Professor Verhoef (1944) received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Utrecht where he has been Professor of Clinical Microbiology. He was assistant Professor in Manchester UK (1973), in 1975 and 1976 assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, in 1982 visiting professor Stanford University and again in 1992 visiting Professor at the university of Minnesota. From 1978 till 2008, Prof. Verhoef was Chairman of the Eijkman-Winkler Institute of Medical and Clinical Microbiology at the University of Utrecht. From 1983 to 1990 he was a member of the Dutch Governmental Advisory Board for the Registration of Drugs. He was the founder of Ugene B.V. which was later sold to Kendle International. He received several honours and awards and has been a member of advisory boards of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He was the founder and first president of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. He was co-founder of the ICHS in 1981. He organized several major international meetings.

Prof. Verhoef is also a member of the editorial board at several journals. He was the founder and first Editor in Chief of the International Journal for Antimicrobial Agents. His main research interest areas have been Immunity against infectious agents and the global spread of MDR microbes. He published over 700 scientific publications in journals and books. He is honorary member of the Dutch Society for Medical Microbiology; the Spanish Society for clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and the Slovak Society of Chemotherapy. In 2014 he received the best Foreign Alumnus Award of the university of Minnesota. Over 100 students obtained a PhD degree under his leadership.

At present he is CEO and founder of the World Healthcare Forum.