Prof. Rik Gosselink

Rik GOSSELINK (1955) obtained his bachelor degree in Physiotherapy  (1979) in Rotterdam (NL) and his PhD degree (1993) in Human Movement Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.  He was appointed as full professor in Rehabilitation Sciences in 1993 at the University of Leuven and had a clinical position and department head Physiotherapy at the University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. He served the university as Dean of the faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences (2005-2013) and as vice chancellor of the university (2013-2017). Since 2021 he is emeritus professor in the department of Rehabilitation Sciences KU Leuven and  member of the Ethical Commission KU Leuven and University Hospital Leuven and  member of the Commission on Research Integrity KU Leuven. In 2021, he was appointed as professor extraordinary at the Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation sciences, Stellenbosch University, SA. He is fellow of the European Respiratory Society, was assembly secretary (1998-2002) and head (2002-2006)of the Allied Respiratory Professionals and in 2012, the European Respiratory Society awarded him a ‘life time achievement award’. He was associate Editor of the European Respiratory Journal (1998-2002) and served as member on several advisory and editorial boards scientific journals.

His area of research, clinical practice and academic education is exercise physiology, physiotherapy and rehabilitation in patients with acute critical illness and in patients with chronic respiratory conditions. The focus of his research is on the assessment of limb and respiratory muscle function and on the effectiveness of various training methods for respiratory and limb muscles in these populations. He published over 250 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals, over 50 book chapters and 8 books (H-index: 63).