Herman, Baron Vanden Berghe (Herman van den Berge) (born

Overboelare Geraardsbergen (; french: Grammont, ) is a city and municipality located in the Denderstreek and in the Flemish Ardennes, the hilly southern part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Geraardsbergen pro ...

, 12 June 1933, died Oud-Heverlee, 23 January 2017) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

pioneer in

human genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population gene ...

. He founded the Centrum voor Menselijke Erfelijkheid ( Center for Human Genetics) at the medical faculty of the Catholic University of Leuven in Leuven (Louvain),

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 ...

. He was a cytogeneticist and applied

cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

. Among other findings, he discovered the deletion 5q syndrome in

myelodysplasia A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may ...

. A native Flemish-speaker, he was also fluent in a number of other languages, including French and English, which facilitated his international role in

medical genetics Medical genetics is the branch tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...

. Professor Vanden Berghe was granted the title of Baron by

Baudouin I Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his dea ...

, King of Belgium and from 2000 to 2003 served as chairman of the King Baudouin Foundation. He was a founding member of the International Forum for Biophilosophy established in Belgium by Royal Decree in 1988. The Forum is responsible for the

Golden Eurydice Award The Golden Eurydice Award is presented for an outstanding contribution, or contributions over a period, in the field of biophilosophy. It is awarded by the International Forum for Biophilosophy which was established in Belgium by royal decree in 1 ...

Notes

References

* Janssen J et al., Clonal analysis of myelodysplastics syndromes – evidence of multipotent stem-cell origin, Blood, 73, 248–254, 1989. * Arthur DC et al., The clinical-significance of karyotype in acute myelogenous leukemia, Cancer Genet Cytogen, 40, 203–216, 1989.
Herman Van Den Berghe leaving Leuven University as an emeritus
(in Dutch)

entry in

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

1933 births 2017 deaths Belgian geneticists Academic staff of KU Leuven Flemish scientists Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts {{Belgium-scientist-stub

See also

Notes

References