Liesbet Geris recognized as one of the 50 most inspiring Belgian women in technology 2022



InspiringFifty Belgium, the non-profit organization aiming to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the technology sector, yesterday announced the 50 Belgian women leaders in the field including Liesbet Geris (GIGA-In Silico). The jury team chose from no less than 173 nominations. ​ 

The InspiringFifty Belgium 2022

Rachel Alexander, Founder & CEO (Omina Technologies) - Jenny Ambukiyenyi Onya, Managing Partner (Fit-For-Purpose Technologies) - Ann Belien, Founder & CEO (Rejuvenate Biomed) - Magali Bodeux, Data Factory Director (IBA) - Myriam Broeders, CTO (Microsoft) - Aurélie Carlier, Assistant Professor (Maastricht University) - Liesbeth Ceelen, CEO (BioLizard) - Lien Ceulemans, Country Leader Belgium & Luxembourg (Salesforce) - Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, EMEA partner Leader at Cisco - Nancy de Fays, Co-founder (LINEDOCK) - Beatrice de Mahieu, CEO (BeCode.org) - Evelien De Wilde, Operations Manager Lead Refinery (Umicore) - Mieke (Marylène) De Winter, Global Automation Director (Pfizer) - Gertie Delande, CEO (nexuzhealth) - Anneleen Demasure, CEO (Dropsolid) - Jolyce Demely, Algemeen Directeur (Agoria) - Kristel Demotte, Vice President Data Solutions (Cegeka) - Liesbet Geris, Professor Biomechanics (Univeristy of Liège, KU Leuven & VPH Institute) - Gaelle Helsmoortel, CEO (dgenious) - Caroline Heylen, Operations Manager (GIM) - Marijke Huysmans, Professor Hydrology & Hydraulic Engineering (VUB) - Alexa Joyce, Future Skills Director (Microsoft) - Rosanna Kurrer, Co-founder & Managing Director (CyberWayFinder) - Mary-Odile Lognard, General Director (i-CITY) - Miet Loix, Owner (Entelec Control Systems) - Veerle Lozie, COO & CIO (Melexis) - Leïla Maidane, Founder & CEO (BeGreator) - Antonietta Mastroianni, Chief Digital & IT Officer (Proximus) - Sara Mathijs, Co-founder & CEO (Upeo) - Isabel Michiels, Senior Expert Digital Innovation (Agoria) - Aline Muylaert, Co-founder & COO (Citizenlab) - Stéphanie Ouachan, CEO (Striktly Business Software) - Jasna Rokegem, Founder & CEO (Jasna Rok Lab) - Avanti Sharma, Technology Specialist (Workshop4Me) - Madhumalti Sharma, Founder & President (Workshop4Me) - Inge Smidts, CEO Cable&Wireless (Liberty Latin America) - Cindy Smits, General Manager (Digitale Wolven & CoderDojo) - An Swalens, CIO (National Bank of Belgium) - Valerie Tanghe, Managing Director (Accenture) - Rebekka Van Acker, Co-founder & Managing Partner OQuila - Hilde Van Brempt, Co-founder (iDalko) - Veronique Van de Kerckhove, Managing Director (VeroTech) - Sofie Van Hoecke, Professor Hybrid AI for predictive maintenance and healthcare (UGent) - Tineke Van Hooland, Founder & CEO (Epic 10) - Angelique Van Ombergen, Discipline Lead for Life Sciences (European Space Agency) - Véronique Van Vlasselaer, Analytics & AI Lead South West & East Europe (SAS) - Annie Vereecken, Managing Director (Opdorp Finance) - Britta Verhelst, Global Operations & Supply Chain PMO Lead (Barry Callebaut) - Rita Verreydt, CEO (Uptime Group) - Laura Warnier, Chief Growth Officer (GoStudent) 

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Liesbet (left) with Aurélie Carlier (Maastricht University), another "inspiringFifty woman".  Aurélie was the first PhD student of Liesbet and obtained a dual degree at the university of Liège and the KU Leuven.

About InspiringFifty Belgium

InspiringFifty Belgium aims to increase visibility and recognition of inspiring women in the Belgian tech industry. Announcing a list of the 50 most inspiring Belgian tech women of the moment every two years is one of the organisation’s major achievements. InspiringFifty also offers women a network of like-minded people, organises training courses and takes initiatives to increase the number of women in tech. To this end, the organisation works with Agoria, VUB and ULB, among others. It is the go-to organisation for companies seeking advice in how to attract suitable female candidates for C-level positions. The network was established in 2019 from an existing model by Elke Kraemer, founder of Clusity within The Cronos Group, and tech entrepreneur and investor Joëlle Frijters. InspiringFifty is part of the EQL:HER network, which brings together entrepreneurs, CEOs and thought leaders worldwide to spark discussion and collaboration.

Liesbet Geris is Head of the Biomechanical Engineering Laboratory within the In silico Medicine Unit (GIGA), and professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences (Aerospace and Mechanical Department), she is Collen-Francqui Research Professor in Biomechanics and Computational Tissue Engineering at the University of Liège and KU Leuven in Belgium. Her research focusses on the multi-scale and multi-physics modeling of biological processes. Together with her team and their clinical and industrial collaborators, she uses these models to investigate the etiology of non-healing fractures, to design in silico potential cell-based treatment strategies and to optimize manufacturing processes of these tissue engineering constructs. Liesbet is scientific coordinator of the Prometheus platform for Skeletal Tissue Engineering (50+ researchers). She has edited several books on computational modeling and tissue engineering.

She has received 2 prestigious ERC grants (Starting gant in 2011 for the Bridge project and a Consolidator grant in 2017 for the INSITE project) to finance her research and has received a number of young investigator and research awards from the in silico and regenerative medicine communities. In 2021, she received one of the five AstraZeneca Awards.

She is a former member and chair of the Young Academy of Belgium (Flanders) and member of the strategic alliance committee of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society. She is the current executive director of the Virtual Physiological Human Institute and in that capacity she advocates the use of in silico modeling in healthcare through liaising with the clinical community, the European Commission and Parliament, regulatory agencies (EMA, FDA) and various other stakeholders. Besides her research work, she is often invited to give public lectures on the challenges of interdisciplinary in research, women in academia and digital healthcare.

Contact

Liesbet Geris

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