The department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation (Nephrology and Renal Transplantation Research Group) of the KU Leuven has a large track record in both clinical and basic research at an international level. Clinical research is in close collaboration with the department of Nephrology of the University Hospitals Leuven, where professor A. Van Craenenbroeck works as a nephrologist. Currently, 180 patients are receiving maintenance dialysis in the department.

Professor Dr Amaryllis Van Craenenbroeck graduated as a Medical Doctor at the University of Antwerp in 2008 and obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Antwerp in 2015 (Title: ‘Vascular dysfunction in chronic kidney disease: relevance and reversibility with exercise’). Supported by an ERA-EDTA fellowship, she performed a postdoctoral project at tha Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Title: ‘Chronic kidney disease: a clinical model of premature vascular ageing’). She was certified as a nephrologist in 2016 and is currently active as a clinical nephrologist at the University Hospitals Leuven. Her research focuses on the underlying (epigenetic) mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in CKD and its reversibility with exercise training. In 2019, she was elected as the general secretrary of the European Association of Rehabilitation in Chronic Kidney Disease (EURORECKD) and as a Board Member of the Young Nephrologists’ Platform (ERA-EDTA Committee). She is actively involved in activities of the Global Renal Exercise Group (GREX), a multidisciplinary group to promote exercise around the world. Finally, she is part of the Local Organizing Committee of Transplantoux ‘Time to Move’ Symposium, a yearly activity of Transplantoux Foundation.

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