Bessel van der Kolk is a leading expert on trauma, founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, psychiatry teacher at Boston University School of Medicine, and director of the National Complex Trauma Treatment Network. He has dedicated his career to understanding and treating trauma effectively, inspired initially by his experiences growing up in post-WWII Holland and encountering a Vietnam veteran during his early career. He advocates for human-focused treatments over symptom-based medication.