Nathalie Vanderheijden currently serves as the coordinator for the European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare (EUP AH&W) at UGent. This newly established consortium comprises 56 research performing organisations, 30 funding organizations and several authorities from 24 EU and non-EU countries. Nathalie holds a degree in Biology (Zoological Sciences) from UCL and obtained her Ph.D. in 1998 from ULiège, where she utilized molecular virology to develop a patented fish vaccine. She spent 6 years at a Biotech company (Eurogentec) to develop veterinary diagnostic tests and an additional 2 years at ULiège focusing on bovine vaccine development in collaboration with Maisons-Alfort in Paris.
In 1999, she joined the team of Prof. Dr. Hans Nauwynck at the Laboratory of Virology of the UGent Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. In 2003, she discovered a new viral receptor (sialoadhesin).
Her expertise extends to successfully managing the EU FP7 ‘PoRRSCon’ consortium, comprising 15 partners from Europe and Asia, and contributing to various EU projects coordinated by the Laboratory of Virology. The last ten years, Nathalie played a key role in organizing the annual meetings of the Belgian Society of Virology (BELVIR) and several major international Virology congresses, including PRRS2015, IHW2017, and ESVV2022.