About

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van Lenthe, Harry    Professor of Biomechanics, KU Leuven    Gerrit Hendrik    contact details

Harry van Lenthe (1970) is a Full Professor of Biomechanics at the Biomechanics Section in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Leuven, Belgium.

Born in the Netherlands, he studied Mechanical Engineering at University of Twente, Enschede. In 2001, he received a Ph.D. in Medicine (Orthopedic Biomechanics) from Radboud University, Nijmegen. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Eindhoven University of Technology and at ETH Zurich, where he became Senior Research Associate in 2004. Since 2007 he has been working at KU Leuven as an Associate Professor (2007), Professor (2011) and currently as Full Professor (2015). 

The research of Harry van Lenthe focuses on the quality of bone, and how it is changing during growth and aging. In addition, he is studying the interaction between bone and implants. The ultimate aim of this work is to evaluate and improve the diagnosis and treatment of bone and joint diseases. For these purposes he is using state-of-the-art imaging techniques, in combination with computer simulations and experimental testing. Given the intricate structure and composition of bone and joints, this work requires the integration of structural and material properties from different length scales, from the skeleton, through bones and bone tissue to the cell. His scientific work has been published mainly in leading journals in the field; he is an author on over 140 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, 6 book chapters, and nearly 300 full proceedings and abstracts. According to Web of Science his h-index = 37.

Harry van Lenthe is teaching several courses, among which Biomechanics, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics, and Design in Medical Technology. From 2012 till 2016 he served as the Program Director of the Master in Biomedical Engineering at KU Leuven; in that position he was responsible for the quality of the curriculum as well as for student affairs. In the years 2010-2016 he also served as Chairman of the Visitation Committee for the master in Biomedical Engineering. In that capacity he played an important role in the external evaluation of the Biomedical Engineering program at KU Leuven by the Vlaamse Universiteiten en Hogescholen Raad (2011-2012) and by the Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur (2015-2016).

Harry van Lenthe has received several awards including the European Society of Biomechanics Research Award (2000). He received a Fellowship from the Roche Research Foundation (2004), received the Young Investigator Award from the International Bone Densitometry Workshop (2004). He held the Collen-Francqui Chair 2019 at UC Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). Harry van Lenthe is co-founder and board member of FIBEr, KU Leuven's core facility for biomechanical experimentation. He was the former President of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB).