Aline De Vleminck

Aline De Vleminck is an Assistant Professor and post-doctoral researcher at the End-of-Life Care Research Group within the Family Medicine and Chronic Care department at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). She holds a PhD in Sociology and has established herself as a leading researcher in advance care planning, particularly focusing on vulnerable populations including dementia patients and those in general practice settings.

Her educational background includes a Master's degree in Sociology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2010), followed by doctoral research on advance care planning in general practice. In 2015, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research on hospice care for dementia patients at the National Palliative Care Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine in New York.

De Vleminck's research primarily focuses on advance care planning across various contexts including dementia care, general practice, and cancer care. Her work emphasizes developing and evaluating interventions to improve communication about future care preferences, particularly for vulnerable populations. Recent projects demonstrate increasing integration of digital health solutions, with a focus on user-centered design for web-based tools supporting advance care planning.

Her publication portfolio shows a clear trend toward interdisciplinary research combining palliative care, digital health, and patient-centered approaches. The most recent articles reveal significant work on adapting advance care planning for specific populations including dementia patients, adolescents with cancer, and COPD patients, with growing emphasis on technological solutions and multistakeholder approaches.

• Fulbright Scholarship Award (2015) for research on hospice care for dementia patients at Icahn School of Medicine

De Vleminck has secured substantial research funding including projects supported by 'Kom op Tegen Kanker', the Flemish government agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT), and multiple European grants. Her supervisory role is evident through her involvement in doctoral projects and collaborations with PhD students, particularly in joint VUB-UGent initiatives. She actively participates in large-scale multicenter studies including the FLIECE project and the DIAdIC trial, demonstrating strong collaborative research networks across European institutions.

As a core member of the End-of-Life Care Research Group, De Vleminck works within a multidisciplinary team that includes medical doctors, nurses, psychologists, and sociologists. Her current research portfolio includes several active projects focused on enhancing existential care for COPD patients, understanding social connections in serious illness, and developing comprehensive multistakeholder models for advance care planning.