Rencontre de la Louvain House 10/06/26 - Severine Vermeire : The intersection of clinical medicine and university leadership
lvnhouse |
Mercredi 10/06/2026 12h30-14h
The intersection of clinical medicine and university leadership
The intersection of clinical medicine and university leadership represents a dynamic space where patient-centered care, academic excellence, and institutional governance converge.
Clinical medicine brings the rigor of evidence-based practice, the urgency of finding solutions for patient unmet needs, and the ethical imperative of health equity.
University leadership, in turn, provides the strategic vision, helps to secure resource allocation, and provides the organizational culture that shapes how medical knowledge is generated, disseminated, and applied.
Together, these domains influence not only the training of future healthcare professionals but also the advancement of translational research and the societal role of universities as engines of innovation and public trust.
Clinical priorities need to be balanced with the academic mission, demands for improving patient care and outcomes need to be reconciled with long-term investments in research and education.
The intersection also underscores opportunities for synergy: a leadership that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, that embeds clinical insights into policy-making, and champions diversity and inclusion can amplify the impact of medicine on society and on global health.
Ultimately, the dialogue between clinical medicine and university leadership is essential for shaping resilient institutions that advance knowledge while responding to the evolving needs of society.
Severine Vermeire is Full Professor of Medicine at the KU Leuven and Consultant Gastroenterologist at the University Hospital Leuven, Belgium. Since August 2025 she is appointed Rector of KU Leuven.
Between 2015 and 2020 she was the Chair of the Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism (CHROMETA) and from 2017 until 2022 she served in the Board of Directors of the University Hospital Leuven. She was member of the Flemish Committee for Scientific Integrity (VCWI) between 2017-2025.
Severine Vermeire obtained her MD from KU Leuven in 1995 and her PhD at the same university in 2001. She further trained at the Universidad Nacional de Asuncion, Paraguay (1993), at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, UK (1997-1998), and at the Montreal General Hospital McGill University, Canada (2000–2001).
Severine Vermeire’s contributions span both clinical and translational research with a focus on the role of the microbiome and genetic susceptibility in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). She is actively involved as principle investigator in multiple clinical trials with new therapeutic compounds and has been lead international investigator on several of these programmes. Her team pioneered in the field of therapeutic drug monitoring and predictive biomarkers of response in IBD. She is a highly-cited researcher with more than 800 peer-reviewed articles.
Severine Vermeire was associate editor of the scientific journal GUT (2004-2009) and of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (2014-2017). She served as president of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (2014-2016) and of the Belgian IBD Research & Development Group (2011-2013). In 2017 she was elected member of the German Leopoldina Academy of Science and in 2022 of the Academia Europaea.
She was awarded an Advanced European Research Council (ERC) Grant in 2016 and leads the Horizon Europe-funded FIBROTARGET project (No 101080523) as Coordinator (2023-2028). Severine Vermeire has mentored many scientists who now hold prominent academic positions and clinical positions worldwide.
Cette Rencontre est parrainée par Françoise Smets, rectrice UCLouvain
Informations pratiques
L'exposé est suivi d'un déjeuner ambulatoire (19,50 € p.p.)
Pour participer à cette Rencontre, inscrivez-vous (obligatoirement) pour le 8 juin 2026 au plus tard.
L'accès aux Rencontres de la Louvain House est réservé aux membres du personnel de l'UCLouvain et leurs invité·es éventuel·les, ainsi qu'aux Alumni de l'UCLouvain. La participation au lunch n'est pas facultative. Toute inscription non décommandée 24h avant l'événement sera facturée.