Désiré Collen, M.D., PhD

Désiré Collen is Chairman of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine of the University of Leuven which hosts two research groups :

• The Molecular and Cardiovascular Medicine Group – Director : Désiré Collen – located at the Campus Gasthuisberg in Leuven
• The Division of Molecular Medicine – Head : Zeger Debyser – located at the St Raphaël Hospital in Leuven

Désiré Collen obtained a MD degree in 1968 and a PhD degree in Chemistry in 1974 at the University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Belgium. Following fellowships of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (NFWO) and fellowships at the New York University Medical School in NY and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, he was appointed Docent in 1976 and Professor in 1981 at the University of Leuven.

He presently serves as Director of the Center for Molecular and Vascular Biology of the University of Leuven and as Director of the Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology which, together with the spin-off company Thromb-X NV consitute the Molecular Cardiovascular Medicine Group.

Désiré Collen has been awarded several scientific awards including the Francqui Prize (1984, Belgium), the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1986, Switzerland), the Bristol-Myers-Squibb Award for Cardiovascular Research, jointly with M. Verstraete (1994, USA) and the Interbrew-Baillet-Latour Prize, jointly with P. Carmeliet (2005, Belgium). He is the recipient of honorary doctorates of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (1998, The Netherlands), the Free University of Brussels (1994, Belgium), the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, (1995, USA), the Université de la Méditerrannée of Marseille (1999, France).

His research interests comprise thrombolysis, atherosclerosis, and transgenesis and gene transfer of the cardiovascular system. Since 1970, he has (co)-authored 626 research papers and 168 review papers, which have been cited over 47,000 times (Web of Science, July 2005).

From 1998 to 2002, he reverted to a part-time Professorship (Professor Extraordinarius) to concentrate on the development of Thromb-X NV, a Belgian Biotechnological Development Company and of ThromboGenics Ltd, an Irish Biopharmaceutical Product Development Company, in which he serves as a Consultant and as Chairman of the Board. These companies focus on the discovery and development of biotherapeutics for treatment of a.o. cardiovascular and malignant diseases.