Evelien Gielen

Evelien Gielen, MD PhD, received her training in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at KU Leuven and followed an Advanced Postgraduate Course in Geriatric Medicine at the European Academy for Medicine of Ageing. For her PhD thesis entitled ‘Determinants of musculoskeletal frailty in ageing men: Results of the European Male Ageing Study’ she stayed at the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Currently, she is associate professor and head of the research line ‘Age-related osteoporosis and sarcopenia’ at the division of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Department of Public Health and Primary Care at KU Leuven. She is deputy Head of Clinic at the Geriatric department and supervisor at the Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases in UZ Leuven.
Evelien Gielen is involved in several (inter)national scientific projects and working groups in the field of age-related osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Her main research activities focus on strategies to promote healthy ageing and to reduce fracture risk in older persons. For both her research projects on the effects of personalized non-pharmacological interventions for persons with sarcopenia and on the role of the gut microbiota in the development and treatment of sarcopenia, she received funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
Evelien Gielen is board member of the Belgian Bone Club since 2014 and became the president in 2019. She also is one of the founders and the treasurer of the Belgian Aging Muscle Society (BAMS). Evelien Gielen belongs to the scientific advisory board of the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO), and is member of the European Calcified Tissue Society (ECTS), the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD) and the Belgian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics (BSGG). She has (co-)authored more than 100 international peer-reviewed papers or book chapters.