He received his PhD thesis entitled “On Toll-like receptors and the innate immune response in melioidosis”, cum laude (Professor Tom van der Poll and professor Sharon Peacock); during this period he worked in Bangkok at the Wellcome Trust Overseas Programme. Previous awards included the O'Callaghan PhD award, the Andreas Bonn medallion, the GSK ICAAC award, the ESCMID Young Investigator Award and the ANZICS Global Rising Star Award 2015.

Wiersinga serves as coordinator of the H2020 Marie Curie ITN European Sepsis Academy, holds a NWO VIDI grant and served as chair of the Infection section of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guideline update 2020. He is executive member of the ESCMID study group on bloodstream infections and sepsis (ESGBIES) as well as the International Sepsis Forum (ISF). 

He divides his time between patient care, teaching and research in the Center for Experimental Molecular Medicine (CEMM) all at the Amsterdam UMC. He investigates innate immune responses in sepsis, caused by Streptoccus pneumonia, Klebsiella pneumonia, Burkholderia pseudomallei and Salmonella typhi. Recent interests include the role of the gut microbiota during severe bacterial infections as well as the pathogenesis and treatment of COVID-19. His work has been published in among others JAMA, Nat Rev Disease Primers, Nat Rev Microbiol, Gut, Intensive Care Med, Lancet Infect Dis, and N Engl J Med.

Focus of research:

• Host-pathogen interactions and innate immune responses in infectious diseases
• Special interest in: sepsis, pneumonia, cellulitis, typhoid fever, melioidosis, gut microbiota
• Pathogenesis and treatment of COVID-19