KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Department of Oral Health Sciences,
BIOMAT – Biomaterials Research Group, Leuven, Belgium
BARTHOLOMEUS (BART) VAN MEERBEEK (°September 29, 1965) obtained his DDS (Dentist; equivalent to current Master of Science in Dentistry degree) in 1988, and funded by a PhD fellowship of the Research Foundation of Flanders (FWO) his PhD in 1993, both at KU Leuven (University of Leuven) in Belgium. Appointed as Postdoctoral Researcher by FWO, he continued his research activity at KU Leuven for the next six years (two 3-year periods as FWO PostDoc fellow), during which he also conducted research abroad for one year at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (USA) and later also for 3 months at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (USA). In parallel with his research track, he obtained the degree of Specialist in Adhesive Restorative Dentistry (4-year program part-time; equivalent to current Master-after-Master degree) in 1994. In 1995, he became Assistant Professor (‘Docent’) at KU Leuven and since then teaches Biomaterial Sciences at the Dental School (now the Department of Oral Health Sciences of KU Leuven’s Biomedical Sciences Group). In 1998, he was promoted to Associate Professor (‘Hoofddocent’). From 2000 to 2010, he was appointed as Research Professor (Bof-ZAP) at KU Leuven, having mainly a research and only a limited teaching task. He then founded the BIOMAT – Biomaterials Research Group at KU Leuven, and is currently the head of BIOMAT, consisting of 6 senior academic staff (ZAP) members and about 15 PhD and postdoctoral researchers. In 2002 and 2005, he was promoted to respectively Professor (‘Hoogleraar’) and Full Professor (‘Gewoon Hoogleraar’). In parallel with his university appointment, he has been appointed at the University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven) as Adjunct Section Head (‘Adjunct Afdelingshoofd’) since 2004; he became Section Head (‘Afdelingshoofd’) in 2009. His primary research interest involves studies related to the broad field of Adhesive Dentistry, including clinical research as well as fundamental research regarding dental adhesive technology in particular. Newer research lines deal with Dental Ceramics, Cariogenicity & Biocompatibility of Dental Materials, Bioactive Materials and Pulp-preservation Material Technology. His research work has been published in more than 400 international peer-reviewed journals and has been honoured with awards such as the Triennial Robert Stock Award for Biomedical Sciences in 1996, the Albert Joachim Award in 1997, the Award in Biomedical Sciences of the Research Council of KU Leuven in 1998, the IADR (International Association of Dental Research) Young Research Award in 2000, the SmithKline Beecham Award in 2001, the Academy of Operative Dentistry Buonocore Memorial Lecturer in 2003, the CED-IADR (Continental European Division of IADR) Robert Frank Lecturer in 2008, the 2014 IADR/AADR William J. Gies Award for the best 2014 JDR paper in the Biomaterials & Bioengineering Research category (Journal of Dental Research as the highest ranked dental scientific journal), and the 2015 IADR Wilmer Souder Award (IADR Distinguished Scientist award for Dental Materials). So far, he has served as supervisor (promoter) of 9 completed PhD’s (2 ongoing PhD’s) and as co-supervisor (co-promoter) of 11 PhD’s (3 ongoing PhD’s). Since 2003, he is holder of the Toshio Nakao Chair for Adhesive Dentistry and since 2015 of the Kuraray Noritake Dental Funds for promoting research in Adhesive Dentistry, both at KU Leuven. He was President of the Pan-European-Federation of IADR (IADR/PEF) in 2006-2007 and he is currently Secretary of CED-IADR. Since 2004, he is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Adhesive Dentistry.
