Schuitemaker grew up in the Netherlands. Her mother was a bookkeeper and her father was an electrical engineer. As a child she was fascinated by medicine, and after earning her undergraduate degree she completed a PhD programme in AIDS pathogenesis at the University of Amsterdam.
Research and career
Schuitemaker started to research HIV/AIDS in 1989. Whilst interested in the virus itself, Schuitemaker also wanted to learn more about the patients who suffered from the disease, and took part in a patient outreach program. Her interactions in this program strengthened her motivation to better understand the disease, help find a vaccine and treatments. She studied the pathogenesis of HIV-1 throughout her career. Her early research focussed on whether HIV could infect other cells in the body than just T cells, including cells in the brain and lungs. She started working at Sanquin, the Netherlandsblood supply foundation based in Amsterdam, where she was made Head of the department of Clinical Viro-Immunology in 1998. Schuitemaker has been involved in policy, and has held advisory positions on several vaccine charities. From 2003 to 2004, she was a visiting scientist at the La JollaScripps Research Institute. Schuitemaker joined the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam in 2008, where she was made Chair of Experimental Immunology. She moved to Crucell in 2010, which, at the time, was an independent biotechnology company. Two weeks later, Crucell was acquired by Janssen Vaccines, part of Johnson & Johnson. She was appointed Global Head of Viral Vaccines Discovery and Translational Medicine. At Janssen, Schuitemaker worked on the universal flu vaccine. She returned to working on vaccinations to protect against HIV-1. Schuitemaker demonstrated the efficacy of the adenovirus/protein vaccines against simian immunodeficiency virus in rhesus macaques. In 2018, Schuitemaker's vaccine regime was shown to induce an immune response to HIV in humans. Results of Imbokodo, an investigation into the potential for this vaccine to save the lives of thousands of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa, are expected in 2021. Another study, Mosaico, will see 3,800 individuals taking part in a Phase 3 clinical trial of the vaccine. During the COVID-19 pandemic Schuitemaker looked to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Her approach started with a single viral genome, which was being tested as of March 2020. Schuitemaker estimated that it would take between 12 and 18 months to manufacture a vaccine.
