Jan De Waele is a surgery-trained intensivist with a specific interest in infections in critically ill patients and works at the surgical ICU of the Ghent University Hospital in Belgium. Clinical interests include infections and abdominal catastrophes such as the abdominal compartment syndrome. His research activities currently focus on optimizing antibiotic therapy in severely ill infected patients to improve outcome and combat resistance development. He is active in several societies: he is currently chairing the Infection Section of the ESICM and president of the Belgian Society of Intensive Care Medicine.