Jaap Wagenaar was trained as veterinarian and completed his PhD study at Utrecht University and the USDA-National Animal Diseases Center, Ames, IA, US. He is founding member and Diplomat of the European College for Veterinary Microbiology (ECVM).

He worked at the reference institute of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture in Lelystad, with WHO (Geneva, Switzerland), CDC (Atlanta, US) and USDA (Albany, Ca, US). In 2006 he was appointed as chair in Clinical Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. The main topics of his research are on antimicrobial resistance and on Campylobacter. He is (co)author of >300 publications and book chapters. He was member of the scientific panel of the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute and involved in the major reduction of antimicrobial use in livestock. He is director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Campylobacter and Antimicrobial Resistance from a One Health perspective, and the WOAH-reference laboratory for Campylobacteriosis. He is member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Fleming Fund, an UK-initiative to build global capacity on AMR surveilance.
Jaap is Co-Chair of the Quadripartite Technical Group on Integrated Surveillance for Antimicrobial Resistance and Use (QTG-AIS). This group, installed by the Quadripartite members (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)) provides strategic and technical advice to the Quadripartite and the Global Leaders Group on AMR.
Jaap is member of the European Commission Expert Group ‘Antimicrobial Resistance One Health Network’. This group assists the European Commission in relation to the implementation of existing Union legislation, programmes and policies.
Jaap is acting frequently as expert for WHO, FAO and WOAH. A considerable part of his research, field work, capacity building and policy support is carried out in LMIC.