Jan Keunen

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Jan Keunen is a Dutch ophthalmologist, professor, and politician with the VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy). He was born on 2 October 1954 in Roermond. He studied medicine at Radboud University Nijmegen, earning his doctorate in 1988, and trained as an ophthalmologist in Utrecht. He spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Chicago in 1990–1991.

Keunen led the ophthalmology department at Leiden University Medical Center starting in 1995, specializing in ocular oncology. In 2003 he chaired Vision 2020 Netherlands, a WHO initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. He later joined Radboud University Medical Center as a professor and head of the ophthalmology department, focusing on laser surgery and retina diseases. His team introduced a microsecond laser in 2007 and the Pascal Photocoagulator in 2008. In 2014 he joined the Health Council of the Netherlands, advising the government and parliament, and he retired from Radboud UMC in 2019 (with a farewell delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic). He was made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

In politics, Keunen has been active with the VVD since the 1990s, leading VVD Nijmegen and later VVD Rijk van Nijmegen. He was elected as a senator and served from 26 October 2020 to 13 June 2023, after Roel Wever left the seat; he did not seek re-election in 2023.

Personal life: Keunen was widowed in 2014 when his wife Florence Lohuis passed away. They had two children, Victor (born 1991) and Béatrice (born 1994). He lives in Nijmegen. Keunen has advocated banning the sale of consumer fireworks around New Year’s Eve, promoting organized displays and the use of safety glasses, and he has warned against illegal laser pointers.