Philippe Büscher was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1956. He graduated as a biologist at the Free University of Brussels where he also obtained his PhD in 1986. His career at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp started in the same year under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nestor Van Meirvenne. Since then, P. Büscher has been involved in human and animal African trypanosomiasis, mainly focusing on improved diagnosis. In 1998, he became head of the Unit of Parasite Diagnostics.

With his team, including Congolese and Ethiopian PhD students, he develops new formats for parasitological, serological and molecular diagnostics for African trypanosomiasis, visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Particular attention is paid to the applicability of these tests in settings with poor infrastructure resources. He participated in the development of the first generation of rapid serodiagnostic tests for sleeping sickness, now produced by  Coris BioConcept and by Standard Diagnostics. With Coris BioConcept, he also developed the first rapid serodiagnostic test for surra (Trypanosoma evansi). P. Büscher co-authored more than 170 articles in peer reviewed journals and more than 10 book chapters. He participated in six European projects.

The Unit of Parasite Diagnostics technically and scientifically supports research institutes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Ethiopia. For example, on demand of the Belgian Cooperation, the Unit of Parasite Diagnostics established a production unit at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in Kinshasa that now produces the most performant diagnostic tests for microscopic detection of sleeping sickness parasites in blood and in cerebrospinal fluid.

The Unit is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training on Human African Trypanosomiasis and is a World Animal Health Organization Reference Center for Surra (T. evansi). P. Büscher is member of the World Health Organization Network for Human African Trypanosomiasis Elimination and is steering committee member of the project on African trypananosomiasis of GALVmed. He advises the Scientific Committee of the Belgian Federal Agency for Food Safety on the diagnosis of dourine (T. equiperdum).

Philippe Büscher is Associate Editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.