After obtaining his medical degree magna cum laude from the University of Antwerp in 1980, Prof van Meerbeeck completed training to become a board certified specialist in internal medicine and pulmonology. He is a skilled interventional pulmonologist and obtained his PhD in 1997 with a dissertation on the presentation of lung cancer in Flanders, Belgium. He is currently professor of Thoracic Oncology at both Ghent and Antwerp University and practiced as pulmonologist at Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium and at Erasmus MC, the Netherlands. He was Chair of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Ghent University Hospital, where he became also Divisional Head and CMO. He is currently appointed full professor in Pulmonology @ Antwerp University and chair of the Pulmonology Department of its academic hospital (UZA). His translational scientific interests include the molecular diagnosis of lung cancer and the evaluation of biomarkers of asbestos exposure and the management of mesothelioma. He is or was the study coordinator or Principal Investigator for numerous international phase 2 and 3 studies in thoracic oncology and respiratory medicine and promoter of several master thesis and PhD students, of which 7 successfully obtained their PhD.
He is furthermore fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and serves its Thoracic Oncology Assembly as chair and member of the mesothelioma guideline committee. He served the Lung Cancer Group of the EORTC as secretary, chairman and as board member, is a full member of the ASCO and the IASLC, and expert at the Belgian HTA Knowledge Center KCE. He was involved in the development of the ICHOM standard set on Lung cancer and board member of All.Can and All.Can Belgium. He has an extensive presentation and publication track, with more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in oncology and pulmonology journals and textbooks. He serves on the review and editorial boards of several international journals, and organized several national and international meetings.