Professor Vincent Geenen Receives the Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award

Professor Emeritus and researcher at the GIGA-I3 Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Liège, Vincent Geenen has been awarded an international distinction recognising decades of fundamental research into the thymus and its central role in preventing autoimmune endocrine diseases.

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t was in Chicago, on 14 June 2026, that Professor Vincent Geenen received the Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award at the Annual Congress of the Endocrine Society. This award is conferred by the Endocrine Society—the largest global organisation dedicated to endocrinological research, comprising more than 18,000 members across 122 countries. It recognises a researcher whose contributions have made a lasting impact on the field of endocrinological research, both scientifically and historically. Vincent Geenen is the first Belgian scientist to receive this award, which is associated with the Clark T. Sawin Memorial History of Endocrinology Lecture—an exceptional plenary address delivered before the international scientific community gathered at the congress. It was in this solemn setting, at the Chicago Convention Center, that Professor Geenen delivered his lecture on 14 June 2026, entitled: "History of the thymus: from a vestigial organ to the unique orchestrator of central self-tolerance to neuroendocrine principles".

The Thymus at the Core of Vincent Geenen’s Research at ULiège

“The thymus was long regarded as an organ that had lost its specific functions in adulthood, explains Vincent Geenen. “And yet, this very same thymus is now recognised as a central actor of the immune system. It is within this organ, located in the thoracic region, that T lymphocytes—the immune cells responsible for defending the organism—are generated and educated.” This “education” underlies a fundamental mechanism: central immune tolerance—that is, the incapacity of the immune system to attack its own constituents.

In 1987–1988, five independent research teams simultaneously established that the thymus is the site of elimination of autoreactive lymphocytes—cells that, if left unchecked, would attack the body’s own tissues, a process known as negative selection. The specific contribution of the Liège team, led by Professor Geenen, demonstrated that this tolerance is exercised with particular precision towards the endocrine glands: the thyroid, the pancreas, the adrenal glands, and others. When thymic tolerance is defective, these organs become the preferential targets of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

Major Implications for Human Health

Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 5–8% of the global population and represent an increasing public health challenge. The work of Professor Geenen and his team has opened a promising avenue of investigation. A precise understanding of how thymic dysfunction can lead to the development of these pathologies would, in the long term, pave the way for targeted prevention and treatment strategies. This research, supported notably by the FNRS, the Walloon Region, the European Union, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is situated within an international scientific dynamic at the intersection of immunology, endocrinology, and neurobiology.

Vincent Geenen embodies a Liège tradition of excellence in fundamental research. The conferral of the Delbert A. Fisher Research Scholar Award attests to the international reach of his contributions and illustrates the capacity of ULiège to produce research of the highest calibre in the biomedical sciences.