Biography

Dr. Paul S. Steels is an extremely accomplished Renal Physiology expert and a distinguished Professor Emeritus of University Hasselt Belgium. Originally appointed in 1976, he became emeritus in 2010. When Dr. Steels started out, he was going to pursue a career in engineering, but decided to study medicine, the conduct lab research in physiology, and ultimately decided to go into the kidney field. He wanted to study medicine because of his interest in research in the medical world, and never actually saw patients, but went immediately into research. Indeed, Dr. Steels dedicated his research on renal physiology, then going onto Yale. At the time, the department was really well known in the transport of electrolytes, so his research evolved from there. He received his Post doctorate degree in Cell Physiology from Yale University School of Medicine in 1975, and graduated summa cum laude with his Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Cell Physiology at THE Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in 1970. He continued there in Physiology until 1973, and then spent from 1973-75 at Yale. His primary of expertise is in Renal Physiology, and he has conducted extensive research studying the kidney function in different animals. Dr. Steels has taught about 3500 students, conducting quarterly examinations over his 34 years of teaching. His instruction included courses and lectures in human physiology and pathophysiology (cardiovascular, kidney and electrolytes, lung and GI tract) for medical and dentistry students, as well as for biomedical sciences. He has also mentored about 20 PhD students. Many of his students went into academics and became professors. Indeed, the education Dr. Steels received in Belgium, then in States, was very well-rounded. In the U.S., a different methodology was employed, including more discussions, several seminars, and he learned a lot from daily discussions. Dr. Steels has been published in several journals, including for the American Society of Nephrology, of which he is a member. He is also part of the American Physiological Society, the Kidney International Society, and the Belgium Society of Physiology and Pharmacology. Dr. Steels was also trained in electrophysiology of epithelial tissues (Necturus proximal tubule) by Dr. Emile Boulpaep, and was also involved in Multiple Sclerosis research using oligodendrocyte cultures and lymphocytes. He was also able to obtain grant with a friend in Germany, which enabled them to do other research projects through two universities in Germany, one in Spain, and one in Belgium, and specifically a science project with 4 labs on the transport of electrolytes in Malpighian tubulus of insect. A majority of his study has focused on the transport of electrolytes in insects, most significantly in the ant. He became interested in the difficulties of acute kidney failure, and focused as well on the electrolyte transfer in mitochondria in kidney cells. Dr. Steels served as a member of several committees in the faculty of medicine at the University of Hasselt and as Dean for 11 years, and was also a member of the National Medical Science Foundation of Belgium (French section) for 10 years. Going forward, Dr. Steels would like to network, especially with other doctors and researchers in America. He is also keen to continue working together with people at the clinic, as they're interested in heart failure, and he is interested in continuing work on epidemiology of heart. diseases , mainly heart failure, in Congo ( RDC ) as he has a project running to study the epidemiology of heart failure among black people, analyzing why some die around 50 years of age, which is far too early. Specifically, Dr. Steels wants to network with American people to get additional funding for that research. Dr. Steels lives in the Dutch speaking area of Belgium with his wife, who is also a medical doctor and dermatologist, and they have 3 children. Thus, they went back to Belgium so he could go into lab research, and she could focus on clinical work. As Hasselt was a small university, he had to start from scratch. Ultimately, it took him 10 years to start up everything, then he was able to resume his research in full. The languages Paul speaks fluently include Flemish, French, and English, and he also understands German. In his spare time, he enjoys swimming, biking, and reading, especially history and renal physiology. He and his wife love attending films and the theater. Dr. Steels is also a Lions member.