Research expertise

Tine Verdonck graduated as a medical doctor from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1997 and joined the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium in 1998. From 2000-2011, she worked as a representative of the ITM at the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt (IMTAvH) in Lima, Peru. During this extended period abroad, she was involved in research as a fellow, PhD student, and in a postdoctoral position. Tine obtained a PhD degree from the University of Antwerp. Her thesis was about the epidemiology and clinical aspects of human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) infection, a poorly known albeit frequent infection in Peru. Other topics she worked on include tuberculosis, HIV, leishmaniasis, and travel medicine. In 2012, Tine joined the unit of Epidemiology and Control of Tropical Diseases in the Department of Public Health.

Current research topics are syndromic approaches to diagnosing neglected tropical diseases, diagnostics, leishmaniasis, and HTLV-1. From a methods perspective, the emphasis is on epidemiology, statistics, and evidence synthesis.

Teaching expertise

• Vice course director of the Master of Public Health at ITM (2016-present)

• File-holder for the modules “evidence-informed decision making” (redesigned) and “multivariable statistics” for the Master of Public Health at IMT (since 2017) 

• Member of the teaching team for the modules of basic epidemiology and statistics and of multivariable statistics for the Master of Public Health at ITM (since 2012)

• Developer and file-holder of the module “Public health approaches to zoonosis control” for the MSc of Tropical Animal Health, which is a collaborative degree between the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases of the University of Pretoria, South Africa and ITM Antwerp (2016-present)

• Member of the teaching team for the module of advanced epidemiological methods in the MSc programme in international health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health (Charité) in Berlin (2012-2016)

• Thesis coach in Master of Public Health and Master of Tropical Animal Health at ITM (since 2012)

• Jury member for thesis defence for Master of Public Health at ITM (since 2017) and at the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2017-2018)

• Co-supervisor for two PhD students (since 2012)

• Facilitator in three short courses on operational research: Structured Operational Research and Training IniTiative (SORTIT; 2014-2018)

• Clinical rounds, lectures on HTLV-1, and tutorials on epidemiology and statistics in The Gorgas Courses in Clinical Tropical Medicine in Lima, Peru, co-organized by IMTAvH and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA (2003-2010)

• Clinical rounds and exercise sessions on clinical tropical medicine for fifth year medicine students at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru (2002-2004)

• Participation in the development of a Spanish version of the CD-ROM Medicina Tropical. Editors: E. Van den Enden, E. Gotuzzo and F. Torrico. ISBN: 90-76070-23-7 (2001-2002)
  

Services expertise

• Member of the ITM Committee for Research Integrity (2015-present)

• Member of the editorial board of PLoS ONE (since 2018)

• Peer reviewer of >45 manuscripts for among others: Clinical Infectious Diseases, PLoS One, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,and Tropical Medicine and International Health (https://publons.com/author/594964/kristien-verdonck#profile).

• Member of the Committee for Development Cooperation at ITM (2011-2016)

• Member of the ITM PhD Committee (2012-2015)

• Member of the steering group in Lima for the collaboration programme between the ITM and the IMTAvH (2000-2011). Active participation in audits and evaluation activities.

• Practical organization of the Colloquium on Neglected Tropical Diseases of Latin America (Lima 2009) with 116 Peruvian and 92 foreign participants. Included abstract competition.

• Member of the forum for Belgian actors in Peru under the guidance of the Attaché for Development Cooperation (since set up in 2003-2011).

• Member of scholarship selection committee at the Belgian Embassy, Lima (2003-2010).