Links to Belgium

Posted by Sten Westgard, MS

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking at the Abbott Diagonstics Turning Science into Caring symposium in Belgium [full disclosure: I was compensated to speak at this event].

I was fortunate to partner with Dr. Jeremie Gras, who shared the same topic. He lectured first on Six Sigma concepts and experiences in Belgium, and I followed him with some additional data, observations, implications, and recommended best practices. It was a "one-two punch" for Sigma-metrics.

Dr Jeremie Gras, at left, and myself

The symposium was held at the Living Tomorrow conference center, where a kind of "future house" is on display, with new ideas about what living space will look like and how it will function in the future.

If you can believe it, in this future vision, your cell phone will become even more important to you. Soon it will carry all your bank information, health information, even your grocery lists. You'll swipe your phone against a reader and the store will know what's on your shopping list. Nearby monitors will notice your phone and change their ads to focus on your consumer preferences. (So what will happen when I borrow my wife's phone for a quick errand?)

After Brussels, I went over to Gent to visit Dietmar Stockl and Linda Thienpont. Linda has been doing important work in recent years, studying thyroid assays and vitamin D assays and more, pushing for standardization and harmonization and publishing data-driven studies that show how far some methods have to improve. Several PhD students and a postdoc are now working with Dietmar and Linda on important projects monitoring lot-to-lot variation.

Pictured left to right: Katleen Van Uytfanghe, Post-doc; Dietmar Stockl, Quality Guru; Sofie Van Houcke and Hedwig Stepman, PhD students.

Gent itself is an image of the perfect European city, seen from American eyes: castles, cathedrals, great art, cobblestone streets, welcoming lifestyle, walkable, breathable and breath-taking.

Gravensteen Castle.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beer in Belgium. Over the years, my father has had the luck of visiting Belgium many times and has always returned with praise for all of the many brews he has sampled. Having grown up in Wisconsin, the highest beer-consuming state in the US, I have always thirsted to try the beer in Belgium. My hosts in Belgium took me to a locals' tavern in Brussels and I was not disappointed:

I finished the beer in the middle, a Leffe Blonde.

Thanks to all my hosts!