biography

Luc Van Gaal studied medicine at the University of Antwerp, graduated in 1978 and obtained a specialist degree in internal medicine and endocrinology afterwards. He is responsible for the Metabolic Unit at the Antwerp University Hospital. In 1992 he became Professor of Medicine at Antwerp University and is currently head of the department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism. Professor Van Gaal’s main clinical and research interests are related to obesity, type 2 diabetes and lipid metabolism. He is Past-President of the Belgian Diabetic Society, founding member of the International (IASO) SCOPE programme. He is the running president of the Belgian Endocrine Society. He participated to and/or featured as (country) coordinator or principal investigator a number of clinical (outcome) trials; he is also involved in a number of EU consortia for metabolic diseases. He has published more than 320 papers in international medical journals, mainly in the areas of general endocrinology, obesity, diabetes and lipids and has contributed to a number of textbooks about obesity.