Prof Dr Johan van Griensven, Medical Doctor (KU Leuven, Belgium, 1997), Internal Medicine specialist (KU Leuven, 2004), PhD Medical Sciences: “Gene therapy of AIDS: Gene transfer of Antiretroviral Genes into Hematopoietic Stem Cells Using HIV-Derived Vectors” (Rega Institute, KU Leuven, 2003; FWO scholarship), Masters in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2010.

Between 2004 and 2014, he worked as a clinician and researcher in Africa—including three years with Médecins Sans Frontières—and in Asia (Cambodia). In 2008, he joined ITM with a post-doctoral grant from the Baillet Latour Foundation to launch clinical research on neglected tropical diseases and their interaction with HIV. Since 2015, he has headed the Unit of Neglected Tropical Diseases at ITM, and in 2021 he was appointed Head of the Department of Clinical Sciences.

His main field of interest is visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and HIV co-infection. He has conducted clinical trials and nested laboratory studies in Ethiopia, most of them embedded in a longstanding scientific capacity-building collaboration. This partnership currently involves the University of Gondar, the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (Addis Abeba), and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI). He also maintains close collaborations with DNDi and MSF. Together, this work has contributed significantly to the recently released WHO guidelines for the management of VL/HIV co-infection.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an emerging focus of his research. His team and he aim to develop less invasive diagnostics and optimize treatment regimens, with a strong emphasis on decentralization and patient-centred care delivered as close as possible to affected communities.

Beyond leishmaniasis, he has led scientific projects in complex outbreak settings. During the 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he coordinated a large European consortium that conducted a phase II/III clinical trial on convalescent plasma as treatment for Ebola virus disease in Guinea (H2020 funding; ebolatx.eu). He also co-founded ITM’s outbreak research team and currently serves on its steering committee.

He has published extensively in high-impact journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, The Lancet, and Lancet Infectious Diseases. In 2017, he received the Dubois-Briguéz Prize for research in tropical medicine.

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