معرفی
Els Wauters serves as an Assistant Professor at KU Leuven's Faculty of Medicine within the Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism. She is a core member of the Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery (BREATHE) unit and actively participates in institutional governance as a member of both the Council of the Faculty of Medicine and the Council of the Department of Chronic Diseases and Metabolism.
Her research focuses on cutting-edge lung cancer therapeutics, particularly in immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment analysis, and respiratory disease mechanisms. Key areas include immune checkpoint inhibition, single-cell profiling of NSCLC, biomarker development, and management of cancer-related complications like radiation pneumonitis and fatigue. She employs advanced techniques such as spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate treatment responses and resistance mechanisms.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on clinical translation, with multiple phase I-III trials examining novel immunotherapies (including bispecific antibodies and therapeutic vaccines), real-world biomarker implementation, and molecular characterization of lung cancer subtypes. Her work bridges laboratory discoveries with clinical applications, particularly in NSCLC treatment optimization.
As a promotor and co-promotor for major research projects through 2028, including studies on lung cancer survivorship, spatial tumor atlasing, and transplant-related pulmonary fibrosis, she demonstrates significant grant leadership. Her projects often involve multi-center collaborations across European institutions and industry partnerships.
Wauters contributes to medical education through advanced pneumology and internal medicine problem-solving courses at KU Leuven, focusing on clinical reasoning and specialized respiratory disease management.