The Author 

Herman Broers was born on October 30, 1970 in Burgum, The Netherlands. After receiving his bachelors in journalism in 1992 he studied history on the Free University in Amsterdam. His career was interrupted by military service before graduation. After leaving the military Broers started his own independent regional news agency in Kampen, The Netherlands, with business associate Wilfried Vonk. 'Inventor for Life' is his second book.

In his day to day work of bringing regional news stories to the attention of national and international media, Broers met and interviewed Dr. Kolff for the first time in May 1999, aiming for an article on the impending demolition of the former City Hospital building in Kampen, The Netherlands. Kolff, 88 years old at the time, traveled from the United States to his native country specifically in an attempt to prevent the building from being torn down, claiming that ‘medicine itself was changed in there by the invention of the artificial kidney during the Second World War’.

Broers, who at the time only knew Kolffs local reputation in Kampen because there’s a statue of him in the local park, recognized an interesting news story. After Broers’ story on Kolff and his battles against the people who wanted to ruin ‘his’ hospital was published, the town was invaded by television crews and radioreporters who wanted to make their own report on that old doctor, who was roaming the town with a walking cain and on sneekers. Kolff succeeded persistently, helped by very strong local support and the ongoing publicity that was ignited by Broers’ work.

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