11 Facts About Jet Bussemaker

Mariette "Jet" Bussemaker was born on 15 January 1961 and is a retired Dutch politician.

Jet Bussemaker has been a professor of Science, Policy, Social Impact and Healthcare at Leiden University since 1 July 2018.

Mariette Bussemaker was born on 15 January 1961 in Capelle aan den IJssel in the province of South Holland as the daughter of Henk Bussemaker and Elly Verduyn den Boer.

Jet Bussemaker attended primary and secondary education at the Rijnlands Lyceum in Oegstgeest.

In 1993, Jet Bussemaker received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political and social-cultural sciences at the same university.

Jet Bussemaker had been a member of the GreenLeft party during that period, but in 1995 she left it to join the Labour Party in 1997.

Jet Bussemaker specialized in employment policy, health care and taxes.

Jet Bussemaker remained assistant professor during her membership of the House of Representatives, now at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Jet Bussemaker accepted and resigned as assistant professor the same day she took office as the new State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport on 22 February 2007.

In May 2008, Jet Bussemaker received strong criticism from MPs and fellow cabinet members after stating for the radio that she supported 2008 American Presidential candidate Barack Obama, and that she would consider the election of his Republican competitor John McCain to be a disaster.

Jet Bussemaker did this in defiance of a ban on Cabinet members discussing foreign politics in a personal capacity, instituted earlier after Bussemaker's fellow Dutch Labour party member and Finance Minister Wouter Bos expressed a similar sympathy for Barack Obama.