Jan van Amstel is educated as a health economist at the University of Amsterdam, specialized in developing countries. He used to work at the Ministry of Health and the National Hospital Institute before becoming director of general hospitals in Amsterdam and Spijkenisse. After that he became director of several rehabilitation hospitals: Groot Klimmendaal in Arnhem, het Roessingh in Enschede and Rijndam in Rotterdam.
Meanwhile he executed more than 30 short term missions for WHO, UNDP, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and PUM all over the developing world.
Nowadays he is president of the Dutch MS Association, an organization representing 8000 MS patients and he is a member of the Executive Committee of the EMSP, the European MS organization.
He has a daughter with MS and together with his wife they are informal caregivers for 10 years, supporting their daughter and her 2 sons.