Professor Jan J. Piek completed his residency program in cardiology at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam (1984–1989), followed by a subspecialisation in interventional cardiology. He finished his thesis on the coronary collateral circulation in 1992. He was appointed as professor of clinical cardiology in 1999. He has been co-chairman of the department of cardiology since 2004 and director of the AMC Heart Center since in 2008. He is now head of the department of Acute Cardiac Care at the AmsterdamUMC Heart Center. His scientific interests include coronary and collateral haemodynamics and the inflammatory response in acute myocardial infarction.