Xand's and Chris' younger brother is the film director[4][5] Jonathan van Tulleken[6].
Academic positions
He has taught and spoken extensively in university settings, and holds various honorary academic positions. He held the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellowship at Fordham University’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs from 2011 to 2017[7]. Dr. Van Tulleken is currently honorary associate professor at University College London's department of Infection & Population Health[8]. He was an editor of the Oxford Handbook of Humanitarian Medicine[9]. In April 2021, he gave the Imperial College London 'Charmian Brinson Honorary Lecture' entitled: 'Camps, Cameras and Coronavirus: how not to communicate in a crisis'[10][11].
As media personalities, the van Tulleken twins often appear on shows together, but also both have individual appearances on various programmes. They began with 'Medicine Men go Wild'[14] in 2008, and have since presented many television shows, most notably Operation Ouch!, Twinstitute[15][16], and various documentaries. As well as this, the he has appeared with and without his brother as a guest and medical consultant on various television shows, such as Who Do You Think You Are, and as a resident doctor on BBC'smorning live.
With Chris van Tulleken
Presenters of Channel 4's Medicine Men go Wild (2008).[17]
Presenters of both What's The Right Diet for You? A Horizon Special (2015),[19] and also Is Binge Drinking Really That Bad? (2015), testing the effects of sporadic alcohol consumption compared to regular alcohol consumption.[20]
Van Tulleken has also individually presented many documentaries, including an episode of Horizon discussing male suicide[25] and the humanitarian side of asylum seekers.[26] He can often be seen offering up his own body for science experimentation in the diet show How to Lose Weight Well, as well as in BBC Horizon episodes "Sugar vs Fat"[27] and "Is Binge Drinking Really That Bad?"[28]
Radio and podcasts
The Van Tulleken twins host 'A Thorough Examination with Drs Chris and Xand'[29], and is also a member of the Made of Stronger Stuff podcast on BBC Sounds. Other BBC broadcasting appearances include 'What's up Docs?'[30] and 'A Good Read'[31].
Personal life
Van Tulleken is married to Dolly Theis, a visiting researcher at MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge and former Conservative Party candidate for Vauxhall in the 2017 general election.[32] He has one son from a previous relationship and another two with his wife, a son born April 2024 and a daughter born November 2025.[33][34] He rushed out of a recording of 'What's up Docs' after his wife called to inform him she was going into labour.[35]
In June 2023, Xand, along with his brother Chris, were the subject of the BBC genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?, in which they learned that Jan van Hoogenhouck Tulleken's father, Ambrosius Tulleken, was a wealthy slave-trader who had a plantation in Demerara in The Guianas. The brothers also discovered they are of partial Indonesian descent via their Javanese 4x great-grandmother.[36]
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