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Ruben Van Paemel

Ruben Van Paemel

MD · PhD

Pediatrician with experience in pediatric oncology, hematology, precision medicine, with a PhD in cancer genomics, biomarkers, big data analysis and artificial intelligence.

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About

I'm a pediatrician with additional expertise in pediatric hematology and oncology, currently working as a Fellow at Ghent University Hospital.

My PhD (Research Foundation – Flanders, 2017–2021) focused on expanding the diagnostic toolbox in paediatric oncology through exploration of the cell-free DNA methylome. This work combined wet-lab techniques (plasma preparation, RRBS library prep, qPCR quantification) with large-scale bioinformatics pipelines built in Bash, R, Python and Snakemake on HPC infrastructure.

I am passionate about bridging bench-side research and bedside clinical care, and about building open, reproducible data-analysis tools for the scientific community.

Contact & Links

Ruben.VanPaemel@outlook.com
Ghent University Hospital, Belgium
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Source: OpenAlex

Experience & Education

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Oct 2024 – Present
Fellow in Pediatric Hematology & Oncology
Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
  • Diagnosis and treatment of patients in hematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation
  • Communicating diagnosis, treatment and prognosis to patients and caregivers
  • Management of chemotherapy complications in a multidisciplinary team
  • Leading the medical and paramedical team during on-call weeks
  • Enrolment of patients in phase I/II clinical trials (ICF forms, safety monitoring, adverse event reporting)
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Sept 2017 – 2021
PhD Fellowship
Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
Thesis: "Expanding The Diagnostic Toolbox in Pediatric Oncology: Exploration of the Value of the Cell-Free DNA Methylome."
Promotor: Prof. dr. B. De Wilde · Co-promotor: Prof. dr. K. De Preter
  • Patient recruitment, IRB approval, sample processing (plasma prep, DNA isolation, SOP development)
  • DNA and RNA sequencing library preparation; qPCR quantification; capillary electrophoresis QC
  • Large-scale bioinformatics pipelines (Snakemake / HPC); data analysis in Bash, R, R-Shiny, Python
  • Version control with git; development of open-source tools
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June 2017 – 2024
Residency & Master in Specialist Medicine – Pediatrics
Ghent University & AZ Sint-Lucas, Ghent, Belgium
Rotations in general pediatrics, NICU, PICU, hematology and oncology (in- & outpatient). Developed two quality-improvement apps for the NICU at UZ Gent: bilicurve and Fenton growth curves.
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June 2013 – 2017
Master in Medicine — Summa cum laude
Ghent University
Thesis: "Identification of genetic aberrations predisposing to familial Burkitt lymphoma using whole genome sequencing." Promotor: Prof. Dr. G. Laureys
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June 2010 – 2013
Bachelor in Medicine — Magna cum laude
Ghent University

Publications

Co-authored peer-reviewed articles.

No publications match your search.

Academic Posters

Ten years of CAR-T cell therapy: real-world experience from the Belgian cohort
INSPIRED 2025 · Chicago, USA
Ten Years of CAR-T Cell Therapy: Real-world Experience from the Belgian Cohort
Retrospective analysis of all paediatric BCP-ALL patients treated with CAR-T cell therapy in Belgium between 2015 and 2025 (n = 61)
Download PDF ↓
Fatal HLH in a 5 year old girl as a complication of secondary histiocytic sarcoma treated with trametinib and chemotherapy
CCLS 2025 · Budapest, Hungary
Fatal HLH as a Complication of Secondary Histiocytic Sarcoma Treated with Trametinib and Chemotherapy
Case report: 5-year-old girl with T-ALL developing necrotising pleuropneumonia and HLH secondary to histiocytic sarcoma sharing the same TCR rearrangement
Download PDF ↓
Mycobacterium abscessus as a complication of immunosuppression after allogeneic stem cell transplantation for congenital neutropenia
eBMT 2026 · Madrid, Spain
Mycobacterium abscessus as a Complication of Immunosuppression after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Congenital Neutropenia
Case report: 3-year-old boy with CSF3R mutation, post-alloSCT disseminated M. abscessus infection with pulmonary GvHD
Download PDF ↓

Presentations

2026

Lymphadenopathy work-up

Master of Specialist Medicine – Pediatrics

2025

Unmasking Familial Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis type 3: Chronic Disseminated Rubella Infection Following MMR Vaccination Travel grant

eBMT Inborn Error Working Party

2025

Acute management of sickle cell anemia

National Meeting - Pediatrics

Software & Tools

Open-source projects available on GitHub

clinAnnotR R

Harmonise treatment and lab values of multiple cases on one figure

GitHub → Live app →

EU Pediatric Trial Monitor R

Interactive EU clinical trial dashboard

GitHub → Live app →

fenton-shiny R

Fenton growth curve visualiser with GET support — deployed at UZ Gent NICU

GitHub → Live app →

bilicurve-shiny R

Bilirubin nomogram app for neonatal jaundice — deployed at UZ Gent NICU

Live app →

Stolling HTML

Interactive overview of the clotting cascade

Live app →

More projects on GitHub

Articles & Blog Posts

Published on Medium / Towards Data Science

2021

My Workflow for Open and Reproducible Science as an Academic Researcher in Biomedicine

Version control, reproducible pipelines and open-science tools for biomedical researchers.

2020

Scanning and Converting Old Black-and-White Film Negatives to Color Using DeepAI

Applying AI colorisation to analogue film photography.

2020

Kaplan Madness: Dichotomising Continuous Variables

The statistical pitfalls of binarising continuous predictors in survival analysis.

2019

Kaplan-Meier Curves: An Introduction

Primer on survival functions and their interpretation in clinical research.

2018

My Journey Into Programming and Bioinformatics: Part 3

Advanced bioinformatics workflows and HPC pipelines.

2018

My Journey Into Programming and Bioinformatics: Part 2 — Sequencing Crash Course

DNA/RNA sequencing technologies explained for the coding clinician.

2018

My Journey Into Data Science and Bioinformatics

From clinician to coder — first steps into programming and genomics.

Awards & Certificates

Awards

  • Award for Oral Presentation — Oncopoint, 2019
  • Award for Flash Presentation — Institut Curie, Paris, 2018
  • Best Poster Presentation by Young Investigator — BeSHG, 2018
  • Award for Storm Session Presentation — Oncopoint, 2018

Certificates

  • Electrocardiography
  • Newborn Life Support (NLS) Provider
  • European Pediatric Advanced Life Support (EPALS) Provider
  • European Board of Paediatricians (EPB)-Certified
  • GCP ICH E6(R3) Certified
Download CV