Prof. Dr Vincent Bours, University Hospital of Liège & University of Liège
Vincent Bours is Director of the Department of Medical Genetics at the CHU de Liège (University Hospital of Liège). He is an ordinary professor at the University of Liège and Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee of the National Fund for Rare Diseases and Orphan Medicinal Products.
He completed his education in hematology and oncology at the University Hospital of Liège and did research work between 1989 and 1992 at the National Institute of Health in the United States. His main clinical and research interest is in cancer genetics and familial cancer syndromes.
Prof. Dr Michel Delforge, University Hospital Leuven & Catholic University of Leuven
Michel Delforge is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He trained in Leuven and at the University of Minnesota, USA, and obtained a doctoral degree in biomedical sciences. Dr Delforge is currently chairman of the Cancer Institute Leuven and clinical head of the Department of Hematology where he directs the plasma cell dyscrasia unit.
He is also a senior clinical investigator, chairman of the Belgian Myeloma Working Party, and active member of the Intergroupe Francophone du Myélome, HOVON (Hemato-Oncology Foundation for Adults in the Netherlands), and the International Myeloma Working Group. He holds the Luc Fraiture Chair in Hematology at the University of Leuven, and has authored or co-authored more than 100 manuscripts and several book chapters in the field of hematology.
Prof. Dr Cedric Hermans, Saint-Luc University Hospital & Catholic University of Louvain
Cedric Hermans currently heads the Division of Haematology, the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Unit as well as the Hemophilia Center of the Saint-Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. He was appointed Associate Professor at the Medical School of the Catholic University of Louvain in 2003, Full Professor in 2012 and Vice-Dean in 2015.
Professor Hermans has (co)-authored more than 215 original articles in international journals and is a member of several scientific societies and international advisory boards and collaborative research projects. He is past-president of EAHAD, member of the Board of Directors of the World Federation of Haemophilia and the Editor-in-Chief of the Haemophilia Journal.
His main research interests lie in the area of haemostasis and thrombosis, especially clinical studies on the treatment modalities and the wide spectrum of complications of haemophilia in both developed and developing countries, as well as new anticoagulants and the management of thrombosis.
Prof. Dr Ann Janssens, University Hospital Leuven & Catholic University of Leuven
Ann Janssens is Head of Clinics in the Department of Hematology at Leuven University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Ghent, before specializing there in hematology. In vitro apoptosis and clonal evolution in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was the title of her doctoral thesis.
Prof. Janssens has a special interest in CLL and other indolent lymphomas and also in immune thrombocytopenias (ITP). She acts as a co-ordinator for Phase I–IV clinical studies relating to CLL-low grade lymphomas and ITP. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals. She is a member of the editorial board of The Belgian Journal of Hematology. Since 2019 she is the President of the Belgian Hematological Society.
Prof. Dr Tessa Kerre, Ghent University Hospital & Ghent University
Since 2016 Prof. Dr Tessa Kerre is head of clinic at the Department of Hematology at Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. Prof. Dr Kerre also acts as Senior Clinical Investigator of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and is Clinical director of the adult stem cell transplant unit at the Ghent University Hospital since 2006. Since 2017, she is a Programme Director of the stem cell transplant programme at the Ghent University Hospital.
Prof. Dr Kerre is regularly invited to give lectures in national and international conferences. She is currently involved as Principal Investigator in actively recruiting clinical trials.
Dr Catherine Lambert, Saint-Luc University Hospital & Catholic University of Louvain
Catherine Lambert is an adult hematologist currently working at the Division of Hematology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels, Belgium. Her main fields of interest are hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, thrombosis, clinical apheresis, sickle cell anaemia, thrombotic microangiopathy and immune thrombocytopenia.
Dr Lambert is the local director of the Joint Accreditation Committee – International Society for Cellular Therapy & European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (JACIE) programme. She is actively involved in the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) Twinning Program and collaborates with the haemophilia treatment centre of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. Dr Lambert is carrying out clinical research in the field of haemophilia care in developing countries.
Dr Philip Maes, Antwerp University Hospital
Philip Maes is hematologist and oncologist active as senior resident pediatrician at the University Hospital of Antwerp (UZA). He is specialized in benign and malignant hematology and hemostasis, hemophilia and HIV in children. He is a founder UPOCA (University Pediatric Oncologic Center of Antwerp) at UZA, founder of a Red Blood Cell Clinic at UZA and co-founder of the Hemophilia Treatment Center of Antwerp at UZA.
