Philippe Goyens was head of the Unit for Nutrition and Metabolism of the University Children’s Hospital Queen Fabiola from 2000 until his retirement in 2015.
He was director of the Laboratory of Pediatrics of the Université Libre de Bruxelles from 2006 until his retirement. He is still involved in the management of the laboratory.
Fellow member of the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, het was permanent secretary from 2013 until 2020.
He started his overseas activities in Kivu (Democratic Republic of Congo) and was involved in research on the causes, the pathophysiology and the treatment of severe malnutrition. His PhD thesis was entitled “Zinc, copper and selenium status of the underprivileged populations of Central Africa ».
The acquired expertise was subsequently utilized in Tibet and in Bolivia while in Vietnam he was more involved in health care organization and quality of care.
His teaching activities in Belgium, Rwanda, Vietnam and Bolivia dealt with pediatric internal medicine with a particular focus on nutrition and metabolic disorders.