[Willem Kouwenaar, editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Medicine 1950-1954].

Willem Kouwenaar (1891-1954) spent the first part of his career in the Dutch East Indies as a physician of tropical medicine and tropical hygienist. He conducted many comparative epidemiological studies. After returning to The Netherlands in 1946, he became a professor of tropical medicine. Among other accomplishments, he developed a vaccine against yellow fever. In 1950 he became editor-in-chief of the Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (Dutch Journal ofMedicine). He was of the opinion that 'everything that Dutch physicians are dealing with should also be presented for the information of the subscribers to our Journal,' which also applied to the controversial topics of birth control and contraceptive agents. He died in an airplane accident in 1954.