Chantal Mathieu - Biography#

Dr. Mathieu is a biomedical researcher with a true translational focus. Keywords characterizing Dr. Mathieu are manager, mentor, educator, communicator, and networker. She is a dedicated endocrinologist, with a big heart for her patients, in particular diabetic patients, where most of her research is focused.

Dr. Mathieu was born on September 15 1963 in Halle, Belgium, where she attended secondary school (H. Hart Institution, graduating in Latin-Sciences with summa cum laude as the best student of her year). She attend Medical School at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), where she graduated again with summa cum laude , with the top score of her year in 1988. During her training she worked night shifts as a nurse in the local hospital in Halle and performed a rotation of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Bristol in the UK. She started her training as an Internist under the guidance of Prof. Vantrappen and worked as a physician-scientist during her first two years in the laboratory of Gastrointestinal Motility on the development of a technique for cutaneous electromyography of the stomach in dogs. After two years of Internal Medicine she interrupted her clinical training to pursue a PhD in the laboratories of Prof. Bouillon (Endocrinology) and Prof. Waer (Transplant Immunology) (1990-1994). She obtained a scholarship from the National Research Foundation of Flanders (NFWO) during these 4 years and defended successfully her PhD entitled ‘Immune intervention in animal models of type 1 diabetes: Pathogenic and therapeutic aspects’. During her PhD, she collaborated intensively with researchers from and stayed for several weeks in the Institute for Diabetes Research Karlsburg in the former German Democratic Republic. After her PhD defense, Dr. Mathieu combined a postdoctoral scholarship of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen) and the pursuit of her clinical training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and became one of the youngest professors in the School of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1996 as well as supervisor in the Clinical Department of Endocrinology of the University Hospital of the Catholic University of Leuven. In 2002 she became Professor of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven and since 2009 she holds the Chair of Endocrinology at the Catholic University of Leuven and the University Hospital Gasthuisberg. All through her career Dr. Mathieu has been granted ‘scholarships’ of the FWO-Vlaanderen, and since 1999 she carries the title of ‘Clinical Translational Researcher of FWO’. She has been the recipient of several scientific prizes, the most recent one being the Inbev-Baillet-Latour price for Clinical Research.

Chantal Mathieu is an outstanding, honest and creative scientist, who has provided key evidence for the understanding of the pathogenesis of T1D. Of particular importance, her innovative work has indicated novel avenues to prevent or cure this devastating disease.