Stefaan Fiers is Head Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Patient Advocacy at Takeda Belgium. Before joining Takeda six months ago, Stefaan was Communications and Public Policy Director at pharma.be, the Belgian industry association (2014-2020), with previous positions as Head of Governmental Affairs for two USA based pharmaceutical companies (2008-2014). Stefaan holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences form the KU Leuven. Next to his activities at Takeda, Stefaan is Professor of Public Affairs and of Comparative Politics, at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he started his professional career as an academic (1993-2008). He is co-founder and President of BEPACT (Belgian Public Affairs Community), the association of public affairs professionals in Belgium which was created in 2016.