Rate My Professor Stijn Verleden

Stijn Verleden is an associate research professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Antwerp, affiliated with the Antwerp Surgical Training, Anatomy and Research Centre and the LEARN lab. He earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from KU Leuven between 2009 and 2013 and has held a postdoctoral position funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders since June 2013. Previously at KU Leuven's Lung Transplantation Unit, he serves as a guest professor at the University of Antwerp and scientific collaborator at Antwerp University Hospital. Verleden contributes to university governance through roles in the Scientific Research Commission, Doctoral Evaluation Committee, and Faculty Council.

His research centers on airway, alveolar, and vascular remodeling in chronic lung diseases including COPD, pre-COPD, interstitial fibrosis, and lung allograft dysfunction. Employing advanced methods such as hierarchical phase-contrast tomography, micro-CT, spatial transcriptomics, and ex vivo lung analysis, key projects encompass the Collen-Francqui Start-up Grant probing COPD mechanisms and the Organ Ageing and Remodelling initiative. With 456 publications garnering over 14,000 citations, prominent works include "Small airway loss in the physiologically ageing lung" (The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2021), "Interalveolar pore morphology in (pre-)COPD stages and emphysema" (2024), and ISHLT consensus documents on lung transplant endpoints (Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, 2026). He lectures on lung pathology in Bachelor and Master of Medicine courses. Verleden's contributions address COPD's global impact, enhancing early detection, donor lung assessment, and therapeutic strategies.