2021 VIB alumni award goes to WHO scientist
RAFAEL VAN DEN BERGH RECEIVES THE VIB ALUMNI AWARD 2021 On 13 October, Flemish minister of Innovation Hilde Crevits handed over the VIB Alumni Award for Societal Impact to Dr. Rafael Van den Bergh. The jury panel expressed their admiration for Rafael’s work and commitment as a former field epidemiologist and implementation scientist at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and more recently as research coordinator for the WHO Attacks on Health Care Initiative. According to the jury report, "Rafael Van den Bergh has spent in the last 10 years more than 25% of his time abroad, in lowresource settings and countries in crisis with risk for his own life, showing his altruistic attitude. He is in that sense a role model and shows a high societal engagement." Van den Bergh's career started in 2003 at VIB/VUB as PhD researcher in the labs of profs. Jo Van Ginderachter and Patrick De Baetselier. In a collaborative project with the Virology Unit of the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, he studied the molecular interaction between HIV and monocytes.
Rafael Van den Bergh receives the award from minister Hilde Crevits
During a field visit in Uganda together with ITM clinical coordinator Robert Colebunders, Van den Bergh observed the immense gap between the available fundamental scientific and medical knowledge and the implementation of this knowledge in the field, especially in low-income countries and regions in humanitarian crisis or in conflict. Therefore, he joined the Operational Research Unit of MSF to put his scientific and epidemiologic knowledge to the service of humanity.
THE PANEL
RUNNERS-UP
The panel members for the VIB Alumni Award 2021
A total of nine candidates were nominated for the
were Désiré Collen, Ann Depicker, Jan Tavernier and
third VIB Alumni Award for Societal Impact. Isabel
Christine Van Broeckhoven, all scientists with a long
Vercauteren and Steven Vandenabeele, founders of
and impactful VIB career.
the VIB spin-off Aphea.Bio, finished in second place.
On the origin of impact
