Paul-Peter Tak

Tak graduated as a doctor of medicine from the Free University of Amsterdam and began his medical career as a practitioner in the Bronovo Hospital, The Hague.[1] He joined Leiden University Medical Centre as a Fellow in Internal Medicine in 1990 and was awarded a Fellowship in Rheumatology in 1995.[2] Tak received his PhD from the University of Leiden in 1996 for his thesis Immunohistologic studies of rheumatoid synovial tissue.[1]

Tak has studied the role of the vagus nerve in chronic inflammation, work which provided the basis for clinical trials exploring bioelectronics as a novel therapeutic approach in rheumatoid arthritis patients.[3] He is also known for his studies on synovial biopsy and synovial tissue analysis.[4] In his academic life, Tak has been Visiting Professor, William Harvey Research Institute (London), Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow (University of Cambridge), Honorary Professor of Rheumatology (Ghent University) and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (U.K.) in 2016.[5]

His was elected by peers as "Best Rheumatologist" in the Netherlands in 2011,[6] and received the Medal of Honour of the Netherlands Society for Rheumatology the same year.[7] He was rated as one of the world’s top 3 doctors in the field of rheumatoid arthritis by Expertscape in 2014.[8]

Tak was chief executive at Tempero Pharmaceutical, which was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline,[9][10] then served as chief immunology officer at Kintai Therapeutics. In December 2020, Tak became president and CEO of Candel Therapeutics.[11][12]

Tak has an h-index of 135 according to Google Scholar.[13] His publications include:

• Aletaha, Daniel; Neogi, Tuhina; Silman, Alan J.; Funovits, Julia; Tak, Paul P.; et al. (September 2010). "2010 Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: An American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative". Arthritis & Rheumatism. 62 (9): 2569–2581. doi:10.1002/art.27584. PMID 20872595.
• Tak, Paul-Peter; Firestein, Gary S. (January 2001). "NF-κB: a key role in inflammatory diseases". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 107 (1): 7–11. doi:10.1172/JCI11830. ISSN 0021-9738. PMC 198552. PMID 11134171.
• Tracey, Daniel; Klareskog, Lars; Sasso, Eric H.; Salfeld, Jochen G.; Tak, Paul P. (1 February 2008). "Tumor necrosis factor antagonist mechanisms of action: A comprehensive review". Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 117 (2): 244–279. doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2007.10.001. ISSN 0163-7258. PMID 18155297.
• Okada, Yukinori; Wu, Di; Trynka, Gosia; Raj, Towfique; Tak, Paul P.; et al. (20 February 2014). "Genetics of rheumatoid arthritis contributes to biology and drug discovery". Nature. 506 (7488): 376–381. doi:10.1038/nature12873. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 3944098. PMID 24390342.
• Stahl, Eli A; Raychadhuri, Soumya; Remmers, Elaine F; Xie, Gang; Tak, Paul P. (9 May 2010). "Genome-wide association study meta-analysis identifies seven new rheumatoid arthritis risk loci". Nature Genetics. 42 (6): 508–514. doi:10.1038/ng.582. PMC 4243840. PMID 20453842.