He has a longstanding interest and expertise in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and conducted basic research focusing on the vascular changes in steatosis and their contribution to disease progression. His research unit continues to study pathophysiological mechanisms of NASH. He also conducts clinical research, and his unit is a partner in several research consortia supported by the European Commission. He and his unit participate in most of the clinical trials in the field, and he is a scientific committee member involved in the design of several phase 2 and one of the current phase 3 trials in NAFLD. He is a senior clinical researcher for the Research Fund of the Flemish government. He is board member of several scientific societies and currently also scientific coordinator of the Belgian week of Gastroenterology. Prof. Dr. Francque obtained his MD at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 1994 and was subsequently trained in internal medicine and in gastroenterology and hepatology at the Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium and at the Department of Hepatology of the Beaujon hospital, Clichy, France.

Following his medical training, he obtained a PhD focused on the role of hepatocellular autophagy in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, USA. After completing his residency training, he became a medical specialist in 2020.

He is currently working as a hepatologist-pancreatologist at Antwerp University Hospital (UZA). This tertiary referral centre is recognised as a leading hepatology reference centre, participates in numerous international academic collaborations, and is at the forefront of research and clinical care in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). He is also affiliated with the University of Antwerp as an Assistant Professor.

His research focuses on MASLD and encompasses both clinical and translational/basic science research. His specific interests include the role of the intrahepatic microvasculature in the pathophysiology of MASLD, as well as the effects of the disease on the portal and systemic vasculature.

She was fellow at the Hepatology and Gastroenterology department at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, with special focus on MASLD, leading to a Joint PhD between the University of Bari, Italy and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2014. She is currently Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Antwerp. She participates in several clinical trials in MASLD and she is involved in different research consortia supported by the European Commission. Her research is mainly focused on the pathophysiological mechanisms of MASLD, particularly on the metabolic and immunological disorders associated to MASLD.