Ronald L.A.W. Bleys (1959) graduated as MD in 1986 at Utrecht University. He has been working as an anatomist at the medical faculty of Utrecht University (now: University Medical Center Utrecht) since 1987. In 1995 he received his PhD degree on the thesis “Innervation of the basal cerebral arteries: pathways and densities”. Part of this research had been performed at the department of anatomy of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London, UK. In 1999 he became registered as a medical morphological investigator by the Foundation for Biomedical Scientific Research Training (SMBWO). He became head of the department of Anatomy in 2000 and full professor of Clinical Anatomy in 2012.

His recent research work has focused on the interactions between the vascular system and the autonomic nervous system. More specifically, he is investigating the role of the autonomic nervous system in the regulation of inflammatory responses. Furthermore, in collaboration with clinicians of especially surgical disciplines, he has been participating in clinical anatomical research projects, with a special focus on esophageal cancer surgery.

He is an all-around anatomist with enormous teaching experience, including training medical residents and specialists. His department has become a centre of excellence for postgraduate anatomical training in the Netherlands and hosts well-known international courses. His own specialty is the head and neck region. He is also involved in teaching innovations, one of them being the development and implementation of virtual 3D anatomical models.