Willem Ombelet
Advancing Accessible Fertility Care Worldwide
Willem Ombelet is a leading figure in reproductive medicine, dedicated to improving access to fertility care worldwide.
With a career spanning decades, he has combined clinical expertise, research, and global advocacy to advance infertility treatment.
As founder of the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology and co-founder of The Walking Egg, he has played a key role in developing accessible, low-cost fertility solutions.
An author of over 180 scientific publications and active in international organizations such as European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Ombelet continues to shape the future of fertility care globally.
Who is Willem Ombelet?
Willem Ombelet is a renowned Belgian gynecologist and infertility specialist, born in Leuven in 1954. He graduated in medicine (MD) from the University of Leuven in 1979 and received his PhD in 1998, focusing on sperm morphology and semen quality in diagnosing subfertility. He completed his training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Bruges and Pretoria (South Africa).
He is the founder of the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology and was chairman of eight ‘Andrology in the Nineties’-meetings.
He became the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the ZOL Hospitals in Genk in 1999.
Willem Ombelet has been the President of the Flemish and Belgian Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 2001 until 2004.
He was also a board member of the Belgian College of Reproductive Medicine from 1999 until 2007 and a board member of the Belgian Society of Reproductive Medicine (BSRM) from 2008 until 2014.
In 2009 he founded and became the “Editor in Chief” of the International scientific journal “Facts, Views &Vision in ObGyn”, a PubMed cited Journal and since 2019 the Official Scientific Journal of the ESGE (European Society for Endoscopic Surgery).
He was a consultant and Associate Professor at the Universities of Hasselt, Ghent and Antwerp. He authored more than 180 international peer-reviewed articles and got 2 international awards. He is the (co-)editor of 17 books.
In 2010 Willem Ombelet founded The Walking Egg non-profit organization (npo) together with Koen Vanmechelen (artist) and Dr Rudi Campo. This npo strives to implement accessible infertility programmes in resource-poor countries.
Willem Ombelet was the coordinator of the ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) Special Task Force on “Developing countries and infertility” from 2006 until 2014. Dr Ombelet was the chairman of the ESHRE Special Interest Groups from 2021 until 2023.
Willem Ombelet has profoundly shaped reproductive medicine — improving common procedures like IUI, promoting safe single embryo transfers, and working tirelessly to democratize access to fertility treatments globally, especially in developing regions.
