Geertrui VAN OVERWALLE (Dr. Iur., 1995, Leuven) is professor of IP law at the University of Leuven (Belgium) and has recently been appointed as Professor of Patent Law and New Technologies at the University of Tilburg (the Netherlands).

In her recent work, she focuses on patents, genetics and their impact on access to health. The results of this research are published in her book Gene Patents and Public Health, Brussels, Bruylant (2007) and in Gene Patents and Collaborative Licensing Mechanisms. Patent Pools, Clearinghouses, Open Source Models and Liability Regimes which she recently published with Cambridge University Press (2009).

Geertrui Van Overwalle is a member of the national Belgian High Council for Intellectual Property and of the Belgian Council for Bioethics. She is a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Biotechnological Inventions. She contributed as an expert to the Report Policy options for the improvement of the European patent system commissioned by the European Parliament She has recently also undertaken research for the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and the Japan Patent Office. Geertrui Van Overwalle has also been appointed as a member of the Board of Appeal of the Community Plant Variety Office at Angers.