Familienmedizin und Primärversorgung

Jan De Maeseneer (*1952), graduated from Ghent University (Belgium) as MD in 1977. He defended the first PhD-thesis on Family Medicine in Belgium in 1989. From 1978-2017 he worked as a part-time Family Physician in the inter-professional Community Health Centre Botermarkt-Ledeberg ( He was HOD in Family Medicine and PHC at Ghent University from 1991-2017. His research focuses on health promotion, equity in health care, health professional education and PHC in Africa ( He was Chair of European Forum for Primary Care ( ) 2005-2017. Since 2013, he is the Chairperson of the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health ( advising the European Commission. Since October 2019, he is an International Member of the National Academy of Medicine (Washington, USA). Since April 2020, he is the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care - Ghent University. In 2017 he published the book: 'Family Medicine and Primary Care - At the Crossroads of Societal Change'.