Prof. Dr. Pierre Van Damme

Prof. Dr. Pierre Van Damme obtained his MD from the University of Antwerp in 1984 and PhD in 1994. Heissince more than 35 years active in vaccine research. He has been full professor in Vaccinology at the University of Antwerp Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences since 2000. Pierre Van Damme is Director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV, University of Antwerp), which he founded in 1994. The CEV is a WHO Collaborating Centre for the WHO European Region for the control and prevention of infectious diseases.

Since 1985 the Centre has conducted more than 500 vaccine trials within the ambulatory trial unit of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination. Recently his team has conducted a unique project for the Gates Foundation; a novel oral polio vaccine trial in quarantine conditions (“Poliopolis”).

In 2022 a new facility was launched, Vaccinopolis, for the conduct of phase 1-3 vaccine trials, with a permanent contained facility for human challenge trials. Pierre Van Damme has authored more than 550 peer-reviewed papers and obtained several awards.