Team

& Founding Members

Meet our Management Team

Our management team is a group of experienced professionals dedicated to driving growth and innovation. With a shared vision and diverse expertise, they lead our company toward continued success and excellence.

Stéphanie Dupont, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Stéphanie Dupont brings extensive experience in Life Sciences and MedTech, combining scientific expertise with strategic business leadership. She has held senior roles at Barco, miDiagnostics, Talis Biomedical, and HP, leading global product development and commercialization. She holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and previously worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company.

Els Hubloux

Chief Financial Officer

Prior to joining 4Tissue as CFO, Els was a Partner at Newton Biocapital Partners. She has over 28 years of experience in the life sciences sector, of which 22 years as a venture capital professional. She has been a director of various life sciences and medtech companies. Els holds a Master's degree in chemical engineering.

Lana Van Damme, MD, PhD

CSO & Co-founder

Lana Van Damme received her medical degree from the University of Ghent, where she started her residency in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 2023. In 2018, she obtained an FWO SB mandate for an interdisciplinary PhD project between the faculty of Sciences of Ghent University in the Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Research group (PBM) and the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She has published 3 Q1 articles, as well as co-authored 2 Q1 articles, in the first 2 years.

Vesna Kostanjevecki, PhD

Head of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Vesna Kostanjevecki brings extensive experience in clinical and regulatory affairs, with a strong background in R&D and molecular biology. Before joining 4Tissue, she held senior leadership roles at miDiagnostics, imec, and Fujirebio Europe. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Ghent University and a Master's degree in Engineering from the University of Zagreb.

Meet our Board

Our board is composed of seasoned leaders with diverse expertise, guiding our company with strategic insight and a commitment to long-term success. Their collective experience shapes the future direction of our organization.

Katleen Verleysen, PhD

Independent Chair

Dr. Katleen Verleysen has been active in the Life Sciences sector for over 20 years, holding various CEO, senior management, and board roles across the industry. She is currently the CEO of miDiagnostics and has previously held CEO positions at Pronota (Belgium), CellSeeQ (Belgium), and DNameIT (Belgium). Additionally, she serves on the boards of ImmunExpress (USA), PharmaFluidics (Belgium), and the Center for Medical Innovation (Belgium). During her tenure, she has successfully completed multiple rounds of funding for several of these companies. Dr. Verleysen began her career in the US, where she was one of the founding scientists at Serenex (USA). She also contributed to fine-tuning imec's healthcare strategy and played a key role in establishing strategic partnerships. Katleen holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Ghent, Belgium. She also received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical Center of Duke University (NC, USA)

Phillip Blondeel, MD, PhD

Clinical Expert & Co-founder

Prof. Phillip Blondeel is an internationally leading expert on aesthetic and reconstructive breast surgery and one of the pioneers in the so-called "perforator flap" surgery. He is Professor of Plastic Surgery and head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. Prof. Dr. Blondeel has also authored and co-authored numerous books, book chapters and peer reviewed articles. At the end of 2011, Prof. Dr. Blondeel led the team that performed the first face transplant in Belgium (#19 worldwide) and is the Chairman of the Vascularized Composite Tissue Allograft Program at the Ghent University Hospital.

Sandra Van Vlierberghe, PhD

Scientific Expert & Co-founder

Prof. Sandra Van Vlierberghe her research targets to establish "a polymer-based technological platform covering processing and functionalization aspects sufficiently versatile to potentially address a wide range of tissue engineering (TE) challenges". Indeed, her research focuses on the synthesis and the characterization of (crosslinkable) polymers and their processing capabilities. She has acquired expertise related to the synthesis, the modification and the processing (through 3D printing, electrospinning and two-photon polymerization (2PP)) of a variety of (bio)polymers including thermoplastics (e.g. polyesters) and hydrogels (e.g. proteins and polysaccharides) in the field of regenerative medicine during the last 15 years. She authored more than 250 Web of Science Core Collection cited papers of which 146 high impact journal papers. She is treasurer of the Belgian Polymer Group (BPG), former spokesperson of the YSF which is affiliated to the ESB, secretary of the 'Belgian Society for Tissue Engineering' and council member of TERMIS-EU and ESB. In 2017, she received the Jean Leray Award from the European Society for Biomaterials. This award is established to recognize outstanding research in the field of biomaterials by scientists not older than 40 years.

Bernard Depypere, MD

Medical Expert & Co-founder

Bernard Depypere received his medical degree from the University of Ghent. He started his training to become Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon in 2013 and is now part of the department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in Ghent. He is a founding member of the Flanders Youth Society for Entrepreneurship (FLYSE), a student society encouraging entrepreneurship. During his medical training he was selected to attend a summer school in designing next generation medical devices at the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering in Trinity College Dublin as part of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (ESEM). Today, he is a PhD-candidate and co-author of several articles in first quartile journals in the discipline of Plastic & Reconstructive surgery. Two articles have survival of the fat graft as the main topic.

Koen Iterbeke, PhD

Board member, representative Anacura

Koen Iterbeke is an experienced strategic leader with a strong track record in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Currently serving as the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Anacura, Koen plays a key role in shaping the company's long-term strategy, focusing on the advancement of biotech and pharmaceutical innovation.

Annemie Van De Casteele

Board member

Annemie Van de Casteele is a former Belgian parliament member with a background in pharmacy and healthcare policy. She has served as a municipal councilor, member of the Chamber of Representatives, and Senator.