Hendrik M. Reynaert

Hendrik Reynaert graduated as Doctor in Medicine in 1987 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). In 1989 he obtained a Master in hospital medicine at VUB. From 1987-1989 he did a residency in internal medicine at the Academic Hospital of VUB (AZ-VUB) and a Fellowship in Gastroenterology‐Hepatology at YALE UNIVERSITY, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Digestive Diseases, (J.L. Boyer, G. Garcia‐Tsao) (01 Nov 1989 - 31 Aug 1990), after which he completed his training in internal medicine and gastroenterology-hepatology at AZ-VUB from 1990 ‘till 1992. He became specialist in internal medicine (1992), specialist in gastroenterology-hepatology (1995) and did a Fellowship endo‐sonography at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam (Oct-Dec 1996) (P. Fockens).

In 1998, he started basic research at the Department for Cell Biology and Histology (CYTO) at VUB (Prof. Albert Geerts) which resulted in a PhD in Medical Sciences: "Somatostatin Receptor Expression by Hepatic Stellate Cells: Implications for Therapy in Chronic Liver Disease" in 2004, VUB. After his PhD, he remained member of the CYTO lab, that was transformed into Liver Cell Biology lab (LIVR) in 2009 (Prof. Leo van Grunsven). His main interest remained complications of cirrhosis, more specifically portal hypertension. In recent years, the focus of his research has changed to NAFLD and non-invasive markers of chronic liver disease.

The clinical career path continued in the UZ Brussel, where he is a staff member in the Department of Gastroenterology since 1992. He was consultant hepatology at UZ Gent (2012-2013) and at AZ Aalst (2017-2018). At the end of 2018, he became Head of the Gastroenterology department at UZ Brussel.

Academic appointments of Hendrik Reynaert at VUB include: Clinical Professor 2004-2007; Guest Professor Physiology 2005-2007; Lecturer (Docent) Physiology 2005-2007; Senior Lecturer (Hoofddocent) and Coordinator Physiology and Pathophysiology 2007-2017; Professor (Hoogleraar) Coordinator Physiology and Pathophysiology 2017-present.