Management Board
The president
Francesca Tencalla
Francesca is president of BelTox and holds a MSc degree in (Eco)toxicology (University of Lausanne) and PhD in (Eco)toxicology (ETH).
She is the director and co-owner of ToxMinds BVBA.
She is also the technical lead for the company’s projects related to the human health and environmental evaluation of chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, biocides, and pesticides.
The vice-president
Dominique Lison
Dominique is vice-president of Beltox and holds an MD degree and a PhD in Toxicology from the UCLouvain.
He is full professor of toxicology at the UCLouvain, and head of the Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP).
The secretary
Mark Martens
Mark is secretary of Beltox and holds a MSc degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Ghent University.
He is a consultant in preclinical development and toxicology with more than 45 years of experience in the safety assessment of drugs, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
Previously he was Beltox president from 2005 till 2014.
The treasurer
Miranda Cornet
Miranda is treasurer of BelTox and holds a MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a PhD in Toxicology from VUB.
She is a senior toxicologist with proven expertise in safety assessment of pharmaceuticals, and the Director Non-clinical Safety Evaluation at UCB Biopharma.
Previously she was BelTox President from 2015 till 2020.
Steering Committee Members
An Van Rompay
An holds a MSc degree in Chemistry (KdG) and a PhD in Molecular Biology/Virology (Karolinska Institute).
She is Principal Toxicologist at Penman Consulting BVBA.
She is the technical lead for REACH consortia’s and companies for projects related to regulatory, technical and scientific services for the chemical, petrochemical, plant protection, pharmaceutical, detergents, cosmetics and fine chemical Industries.
Arno Gutleb
Arno holds a Veterinarian degree and a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Toxicology from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna and Wageningen University, respectively.
He is Head of the Group Environmental Health of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.
He has over 30 years of experience in the development of in vitro assays.
Erik Van Miert
Erik holds a MSc degree in biochemistry (UAntwerp) and his PhD in Public Health (UC Louvain).
He started his career as inhalation toxicologist and study director.
He is senior regulatory toxicologist involved in regulatory (eco-)toxicology and risk assessment at Solvay SA.
François Huaux
François is Professor of toxicology affiliated with Louvain Centre for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP) at UCLouvain.
He is also a senior research associate for FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique) and Principal Investigator in immunotoxicology and human health.
Fréderic Silvestre
Frédéric holds a MSc degree in oceanology at the University of Liège and in ecotourism at the VUB.
At the University of Namur, he earned his PhD by developing a new proteomic approach in aquatic organisms.
After 2 years abroad at universities in Vietnam and US, Frédéric became a Professor at the University of Namur where he founded the Laboratory of Evolutionary and Adaptive Physiology (LEAP).
Hendrik Vrijhof
Henk holds a MSc degree as agricultural engineer from Wageningen University in the Netherlands where he studied environmental hygiene.
He pursued a career as scientist on dangerous substances working with international government (OSPAR) and industry (ECETOC).
Henk is now retired.
Jacques de Gerlache
Jacques holds a MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UCLouvain.
He is Professor of ecotoxicology and environmental management at the Institut Paul Lambin.
He has many years of experience as an (eco)toxicologist in an international chemical company, and is Manager of Greenfacts.
Jana Asselman
Jana holds a MSc degree in Bioscience engineering and PhD in Applied Biological Sciences.
She is a Professor at Ghent University with expertise in blue biotechnology and blue growth research.
Her work is focused on environmental and human health and toxicology related to the marine environment (e.g. marine pollution, marine toxins).
Joery De Kock
Joery holds a MSc and PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from VUB.
He is a Tenure Track Professor at the VUB and lecturer of the course ‘Applied Toxicology’.
He is an expert in human stem cell-derived liver models in health and disease.
His activities focus on the development of new therapies for rare metabolic disorders of the liver.
Mieke Van Mulders
Mieke holds a MSc degree in Biomedical sciences.
She works as a scientist at Sciensano and the VUB.
She is working on the RE-Place project which has the goal to collect the available expertise on the use of alternative methods to animal testing, also known as ‘New Approach Methodologies’, into one central database in Belgium.
Via this project, she is actively promoting the use of NAMs in BE.
Monica Autiero
Monica holds a PhD in Molecular Biology (University ‘Paris XI’, Paris).
She is Senior Consultant at ToxMinds BVBA and leads the company’s efforts in the area of non-animal based safety assessments with particular focus on (Q)SAR modelling and identifying analogue and read across-based hazard assessment approaches.
Peter Hoet
Peter holds a MSc degree in Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in Medical Sciences from KU Leuven.
He is the Head of the Centre of Environment & Health and the research unit of BREATHE at the KU Leuven.
He is teaching Toxicology and Health & Environment, and his research activities are currently focused on the human exposome.
Philippe Vanparys
Philippe holds a MSc degree (UGhent) and a PhD in Biology (UCLouvain).
He is a retired scientist, who worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Janssen Pharmaceutical and headed the Department of Genetic & In Vitro Toxicology and of Mechanistic Toxicology.
Afterwards he worked as a consultant in alternatives (Altoxicon BVBA) and genetic toxicology (Gentoxicon BVBA).
Ruth Moeller
Ruth holds a MSc degree in Toxicology.
She is a Senior Regulatory Toxicologist working at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST).
She has more than 15 years of experience in toxicology, human health risk assessment and regulatory science.
Sonja Beken
Sonja holds a MSc degree in Biology and PhD in Pharmacy (both VUB).
She is the team coordinator of non-clinical assessors at the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products, and has over 20 years of experience in the evaluation of non-clinical data submitted to support all phases of drug development.
She is actively involved in international initiatives for regulatory implementation of 3R testing paradigms.
Steven Van Cruchten
Steven holds a Veterinarian degree and a PhD in Veterinary Sciences from UGhent.
He is Professor of Comparative Perinatal Development at the University of Antwerp.
He has 15 years of experience in reproductive and developmental toxicology, focusing on the development of New Approach Methodologies and animal models for safety testing of drugs during pregnancy and early childhood.
Administrative Support
Viella Krieckemans
Viella holds a Bachelor degree in Marketing (KdG).
She is the responsible for the secretariat of BelTox.
She provides administrative support to the Management Board and ad-hoc working groups of the Steering Committee.
She ensures that all questions are directed to the right experts.