Ann Van Gysel is a
Belgian scientist and CEO of MEDVIA, a healthcare cluster that supports innovation in
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.
Education
Ann obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the
University of Antwerp (Belgium), then went on to the
University of Ghent where she did a Masters in Zoology and a PhD in
Molecular Genetics in
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
Marc Van Montagu's laboratory.
[Van Gysel A, Cnops G, Breyne P, Van Montagu M, Cervera MT., Chromosome landing using an AFLP-based strategy, Methods Mol Biol. 1998;82:305–14] In 1998 she completed an additional degree in Marketing and Communication with a focus on biotech communications.
Career
Ann started her career at the
University of Ghent, where she ran a research group in the Department of Plant Genetics for 4 years. In 1997, she continued her career at the
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) as Communications Manager. There she was responsible for the public outreach and educational programs as well as public relations and internal communications.
From 2008 to 2011, Ann was the managing director of
FlandersBio
flanders.bio, founded in 2004, is the networking organisation for the life sciences sector in Flanders and represents and supports around 350 member companies. The key strategic objectives of flanders.bio are knowledge exchange and valorisation, h ...
, a life sciences cluster organization based in Flanders, Belgium.
In 2011 she left FlandersBio and started Turnstone Communications, offering communications and business development services to biotech and pharma industries. With Turnstone Ann also founded BioVox, a news platform featuring life science and innovation news from Belgium. Ann sold Turnstone and BioVox to QbD in 2023.
In 2022, Ann became CEO of MEDVIA, an industry-driven membership organization that supports health entrepreneurs by fostering innovation in healthcare. It was formed in a public-private partnership with Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), and has around 150 members from industry, hospitals and academia.
Ann is also an independent member of the Board of Directors of the
Flanders Marine Institute
The Flanders Marine Institute (Dutch: Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, VLIZ) provides a focal point for marine scientific research in Flanders, northern Belgium.
The Flemish government established the institute in 1999 together with the province of ...
(VLIZ).
References
Sources
New General Manager of FlandersBio(Dutch)
Living people
Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain
Belgian biologists
Belgian businesspeople
Ghent University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
Academic staff of Ghent University
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