Wim Dekkers

Wim Dekkers (1948) is associate professor Philosophy of Medicine and acting head of the department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. He studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Nijmegen. After graduating as a medical doctor in 1976 he worked in a psychiatric hospital during one year and as a locum in several general practices. He finished his study of philosophy by taking a master's degree in 1979. From 1978 until 1991 he was a member of the Department of Philosophical Anthropology of the University of Nijmegen, while he continued working (part time) as a general practitioner. In 1985 he took his doctoral degree in philosophy. The title of his dissertation is: The Animated Body. The Design of an Anthropological Physiology and Medicine according to F.J.J. Buytendijk (written in Dutch with a summary in English). Since 1991 he has been working at the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Since 1993 he has also been a senior researcher of the Centre for Ethics of the Radboud University Nijmegen. He is one of the co-founders and president of the Dutch Society for Philosophy and Medicine (1981) and editor-in-chief of the journals: Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidszorg en Ethiek [Journal of Health Care and Ethics] and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. His current research relates to chronic disorders, especially dementia, and palliative medicine. He is interested in conceptual and ethical issues relating to the care for the chronically and terminally ill. His work centres around central notions such as health and disease, person and body, life and death, autonomy and independence.