Véronique Préat - Pharmaceutics

As a professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, Véronique Préat, 65, is one of the most brilliant researchers of her generation.

Early in her career, she founded a pharmaceutical research group at the University of Louvain. The "Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials (ADDB)" team now includes 4 women senior researchers and around thirty researchers from a wide range of nationalities and backgrounds. She has supervised about sixty PhD and post-doctoral students who have gone on to become academics or are working in the biopharmaceutical industry. She has coordinated and collaborated on international multidisciplinary projects and developed a solid international network of collaborators, including the University of Angers.

Prof. Préat is one of the world's most highly cited researchers in pharmacology and toxicology (with over 350 international publications).

At the heart of Prof. Préat's work lies the use of nanotechnology to engineer drug delivery systems with unprecedented precision. By harnessing the unique properties of nanoparticles, she and her team have developed innovative strategies to overcome biological barriers and deliver therapeutics directly to their intended sites of action.

One of Prof. Préat's notable contributions is in cancer treatment. Her pioneering work in nanoparticle-based drug delivery has enabled the development of therapies capable of selectively targeting cancer cells, sparing healthy tissue from harmful side effects. Through meticulous design and optimization of nanocarriers, she has enhanced the therapeutic index of anticancer drugs, ushering in a new era of precision oncology. As a specialist in the development of next-generation drugs, her approach is highly multidisciplinary and translational in the field of nanomedicine, with a focus on improving treatments for serious diseases: oral delivery of nanoparticles, applications in cancer research, particularly in the brain, pioneering transdermal gene delivery and DNA vaccines.She is also an associate editor of the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. She has served as vice president of international affairs, president of the doctoral school and vice president of the Drug Research Institute of Louvain.

Prof. Préat is deeply committed to the riches and values of academic research. She is a full member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine.

The University of Angers awarded Professor Véronique Préat the Doctor Honoris Causa title on December 5, 2023