The Belgian Association of Clinical Research Professionals has presented its European outstanding leadership award to Jan Geissler and Dr. Georges Niset.

The group presented Geissler, director of the European Patients' Academy on Therapeutic Innovation, EUPATI) and patient advocate, with the ACRP.be award “in recognition of his exceptional performance and leadership within EUPATI, in particular by addressing training issues and by improving the availability of both patient-centric information for the public as well as educated patient experts that have the capacity and capability to contribute to R&D.”

The leadership award is presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional performance, achievement and sustained service toward the goals of ACRP and the contributions to the advancement of clinical research in general.

"I feel deeply honored to accept this award on behalf of my fellow patient advocates as well as the EUPATI team," Geissler said. "The fact that this award of research professionals is being provided to patient advocates, as well as to EUPATI being a partnership of patient organizations, academia and industry, is a reflection of the paradigm shift: patients are increasingly seen as true partners in medicines R&D. The ACRP and EUPATI share an important mission: building the capacity and capability of both clinical research professionals as well as expert patients."

The other recipient, Dr. Georges Niset, is Secretary of the Ethics Committee at Erasme-ULB in Belgium.