Isabelle François

I'm a bio-engineer with a passion for healthcare and a sweet spot for science. As Director Innovation & Strategy at MEDVIA, I combine these two passions as she deals on a daily basis with future technological innovations, which is a nice bonus for a bio-engineer. I'm co-chair of the healthcare community at XR Valley, chair of the external advisory board of the KU Leuven Digital Society Institute and strategic advisor of Okono.

Before my position at MEDVIA, I was Managing Director of Health House, a unique experience platform where the future of healthcare is showcased to medical professionals and laymen public in an innovative and highly technological way. Before Health House, I was active as Intellectual Property (IP) Officer at KU Leuven Research & Development where I was responsible for writing patents and negotiating contracts between the university and other institutions. Before my function as IP Officer, I was Coordinator Clinical Trials at Fugeia, a company active in the food sector.

I obtained in 1997 the degree of bio-engineer in cell and gene biotechnology and I obtained in 2001 my PhD in Applied Biological Sciences. I performed scientific research in the field of antifungal medicine and I'm (co-)author of more than 30 peer-reviewed international articles.