Dr. Vrielink (1958) was educated at the University of Amsterdam in Medicine and wrote his thesis (1996) on the “Laboratory Diagnosis of Viruses Transmitted by Blood Transfusion”. Since 1985, he has worked as a transfusion and apheresis medicine specialist at Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation, the national blood transfusion service in the Netherlands. He has published many articles and chapters in internationally recognized journals and books on various subjects. Hans Vrielink initiated (inter)national courses in the field of apheresis for physicians and nurses, and, since 2013, has trained almost 1,000 apheresis nurses and physicians.
Presently, Hans Vrielink serves as portfolio manager of the Apheresis Department of the Unit of Transfusion Medicine for the Sanquin Blood Supply and as senior consultant of the department of Sanquin Consulting Services. In this part of the job, he is involved in training and advising organisations and governments in low and middle income countries in blood banking, transfusion medicine and apheresis all over the world.
Besides his work at Sanquin Blood Supply, Hans Vrielink is collection facility director for a number of hospitals in the Netherlands. He is an international JACIE / FACT inspector. Hans Vrielink is involved in many international associations, and is a past-president of the European Society for Hemapheresis, and current president of the World Apheresis Association.