I obtained my medical degree at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1986, and became a radiation-oncologist at the same university in 1991. In 1992 I obtained my PhD at the University of Leuven on the influence of radiotherapy on the immune system.
I specialize in lung cancer, in which I pioneered in the integration of molecular imaging into radiotherapy planning and individualized radiotherapy schedules to achieve the optimum between tumor control and side effects.
I coordinated work packages in various academic international (EU), Dutch and Belgian research projects, as well as in partnerships with industrial partners. I am head of the Clinical Research Division at Maastro and Proton Therapy research at Maastro Proton Therapy Center, coordinator of the biobank project in Maastro, which now has more than 10,000 patients, and chair of the Dutch Platform for Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer (LPRL).
I have supervised many PhD projects and I was or am the study coordinator of 9 phase I studies, 22 phase II and 6 phase III studies, with individualized radiotherapy schedules as subjects, combining targeted medicines with radiotherapy, the development of new PET tracers, molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in radiation damage, proton therapy, meta-analyzes, cost-effectiveness, prevention of brain metastases and immunotherapy.
I published more than 300 peer-reviewed Wi-1 articles and multiple chapters in various scientific reference works.
I am professor of Respiratory Oncology / Radiotherapy-Oncology at Maastricht University and was previously professor of Radiotherapy-Oncology at KU Leuven and “visiting Professor” at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center in Boston , MA, USA, and the Departments of Human Oncology and Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA.
Treatment area:
- Lung Cancer