Rijk Gispen (25 November 1910 – 6 December 2000), was a Dutch virologist and former Director of the National Institute of Public Health in the Netherlands.
Despite the finding being of some debate, it gave cause for concern and provided the impetus to continue World Health Organization (WHO) field research into the potential existence of a smallpox reservoir.
[1][2] At the age of 27, he was promoted by J.J. van Loghem (1878–1968) and travelled to the Dutch East Indies to take up a post with Professor Johannes Ernst Dinger (1892–1983).
In 1951 he was appointed director of Fundamental Scientific Research at the National Institute for Public Health (RIV) and in 1958 he became head of the newly established Laboratory of Virology, a centre he helped design.
[3][4] As a member of the Health Council, he frequently advised government on matters including the use of enhanced inactivated polio vaccine for immunizing infants.
[1] Subsequent to experiences with the measures to control yellow fever and malaria, it became apparent that the eradication of smallpox relied upon the knowledge that no animal reservoir existed.