The Clinical College Trainers

Alex Saelen obtained a Degree in Physical Education added with a specialization in Applied Psychology, a solid base for his long career in selection & recruitment and also in training, coaching and communication.

After a long sports career, he obtained several certifications in Leadership and Group-dynamics and a diploma of Certified Personal Coach from the University of Antwerp and a certificate of Practitioner in Body Language. He makes his expertise available for anyone who wants to take advantage of it.

Currently, Alex is managing partner in Dedesal, Dedevan and The Clinical College.

In TCC, he is in charge of the Communication Skills training and Personal Coaching (Personal Growth and Team Development).

Laura Schulpen holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Staffordshire University (UK) and a post graduate degree in Communications and Marketing from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
She has over 10 years of clinical research experience including all aspects of monitoring clinical trials, investigator recruitment, monitoring plan and report development, protocol and CRF development, SOP writing, and project management.
Laura has held positions of increasing responsibility in the clinical operations departments of international CROs as well as leading pharmaceutical companies. She has managed clinical sites in Western and Eastern Europe, across many therapeutic areas including CNS, Oncology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology.
Laura is managing partner in The Clinical College. Prior to co-founding The Clinical College, Laura worked for three years as an independent consultant specialised in clinical research staff training for various companies, including Dedevan. In TCC, she is responsible for the training of Clinical Research Associates, Clinical Trial Assistants, Clinical Trial Nurses and other Investigational Site Staff in addition to the General Manager function.
 

Hans Tielemans holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the Catholic University College of Leuven (Belgium) and obtained a Master Degree in Medico-Social Sciences and Hospital Management and a Postgraduate Degree in Education at the Catholic University of Leuven. In 2009-2010 Hans has taken a training to become Professional Coach (Coaching & Co, Belgium) where he successfully completed the exams.
Hans started his professional career in 1989 as a nurse in various hospital departments, including intensive care, emergency, operating theatre and a clinical unit focused on the treatment and management of Alzheimer’s disease.
After completing his postgraduate education in 1996, he shifted his professional focus on clinical research and became a research coordinator at the anaesthesia department of the Catholic University Hospital of Leuven. This provided very useful background to join one of the largest international CROs as a Clinical Research Associate where he contributed to clinical studies in many therapeutic areas including cardiovascular diseases, hormone replacement therapies and post trauma multi organ failure.
In 2000, Hans joined a global cardiovascular medical devices company, where he worked as a Project Leader and Manager of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs. In 2007 en 2008, Hans worked for a pharmaceutical company as a contract Global Trial Leader, until he joined Dedevan, where he currently has responsibilities in career development and training.
In TCC, Hans is primarily in charge of the courses on Clinical Project Management, Clinical Research in Medical Devices and Science based selling skills in addition to the Head of Training function.
 

Hilde obtained a Masters Degree In Applied Economic Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven, specialised in marketing, a certification of master NLP and a certification in Professional Coaching.
Her professional experience is a mix of 8 years working as Account manager and Coordinator of International Projects and 10 years living and working as an expatriate in Africa and South America.
Interested by the human and intercultural communication she started as Independent Business and Expatriate Coach and Trainer in 2008. Fields of applications in coaching and training are : communication, development of leadership skills, personal effectivity, people management, sales management and personal and team coaching.
Hilde is driven by the conviction that every human being is unique and has the inner power and energy to grow and develop.
In TCC, she will be in charge of Personal Skills trainings; as stand-alone training or integrated into other trainings.
 

John Schulpen, M.D. has worked as a General Practitioner for15 years and has 20 years experience in a Clinical Research environment where he has held different positions, including the position of Director Clinical Research Unit in one of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies.  Within The Clinical College, Dr. Schulpen acts as Senior Scientific Advisor and is the main trainer for the medical courses.

Patricia Verbessem holds a Phd in Movement Sciences. In addition to the clinical research experience from her Phd she has 8 years of clinical research experience in the pharmaceutical industry. As an insourced clinical research associate and project manager she gained experience in the different aspects of monitoring and managing Phase II-IV trials in the area of Neurology, Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology and Endocrinology. Currently Patricia Verbessem is working as an international project manager. She is convinced that well-trained Clinical Research Associates feeling self-confident and strong in their role are key for the success of clinical trials.

Within The Clinical College, Patricia Verbessem will be co-trainier for the Medical Imaging in Clinical Research training. 

At the beginning of his career, Steven De Bruyn M.D. has worked as a General Practitioner for several years. Later he became more and more interested in Clinical Research and decided to start a new career as a Clinical Research Physician in a phase I unit. After six year he accepted a new opportunity as Medical Manager in one of the most important research driven companies. Currently he holds the position of Ass. Regional Director CR&D Benelux and has more then 12 years experience in Clinical Research.
Within The Clinical College, Dr. Steven De Bruyn will be host trainer for medical oriented courses like ‘Medical Imaging in Clinical Research’.

Katrien obtained a Master’s Degree in Genetic Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven.

She has over 10 years of experience within clinical research and started her career working as a clinical trial assistant and clinical research associate for an international contract research organization.

After 1.5 years, Katrien joined a medical device company were she held different positions with increasing responsibility within the clinical research department as clinical research associate, project leader and clinical research manager, responsible for managing global clinical studies within cardiology and neurovascular. For two years Katrien held a position as quality control officer, responsible for establishing and maintaining global standard operating procedures and quality systems and training of the department.

In 2008, Katrien started to work as an independent consultant for the medical device industry, mainly consulting within project management.

In TCC, Katrien is back-up trainer for courses on Clinical Project Management and Clinical Research in Medical Devices.
 

Rik Moons holds a Masters Degree in physicial education. During his 25-year career in the pharmaceutical industry he held positions of increasing responsibility, starting as sales representative and eventually becoming a member of the management board of one of the leading Belgian pharma companies, in charge of Public Affairs and Communications. During the past 14 years, he combined these activities with consultancy work in the field of sales communications, soft skills and management skills. Since a couple of years, Rik is an invited lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the universities of Gent (UG) and Leuven (KUL) where is involved in the “Pharmaceutical Care” curriculum. He is also a faculty member of the EHSAL Management School and the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), where he teaches management skills. His approach to doing is this always very concrete, pragmatic and filled with humor.

In TCC, he is in charge of the trainings on Effective Delegating, Running efficient and creative meetings and Presentation Skills.
 

Peter Stinckens holds a Master Degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium).

Peter began his career as a sales representative and moved on to become sales manager, commercial director and, later plant manager. He has also served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of three companies.

Currently, he is the CEO of The House of Imagination, a consultancy company specialized in personal skills training and coaching.

In addition to his activities as trainer, he is also a frequent speaker on sales techniques, communication, strategy and leadership (skills). He also published numerous articles on these topics in various specialized magazines and websites (YEOS, SalesHouse, Management.net, salesonline, Apollo, Verlopersonline.nl,…). His first book (The Bue Bible) was published in November 2004 and was very well-received. In the meantime, Peter also published other books such as “Principles of Coaching”, “All for the Customer”, “Strategy and Positioning” and “Viral Sales Techniques” which are becoming standard references for businessmen and sales representatives.

In The Clinical College, Peter will be in charge of the personals skills trainings and courses.