As a director of his clinical department, Steven was respected as a good organizer. He cared for all his collaborators, was interested in their personal stories, and prepared to extend support when needed. Steven was a mentor of many PhD students, and as a motivated researcher and teacher he contributed to their enthusiasm. This resulted in such specific research domains as male osteoporosis, osteoporosis treatment in the oldest old, exploration of hormonal pathways in the accrual and decay of bone tissue in animal models, effects of nutrition, calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and physical activity on bone health, … .

He was a good clinician and much beloved by his patients. At Leuven University Hospital he was a spiritual father of the multidisciplinary approach to osteoporosis and organized cross-talk and collaborations between geriatricians, rheumatologists, endocrinologists, physiotherapists, and gynecologists, leading to the implementation of a clinical pathway of high quality.

Steven was one of the first advocates of integrating the domain of fall risk and fall prevention into the management of patients with an elevated absolute fracture risk. In Belgium (Flanders) he was one of Leuven University’s representatives in the “Expertise Centrum Valpreventie Vlaanderen”.

He was an internationally recognized expert in the field of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease, and collaborated with many colleagues in countries all over the world. In these friendly relationships, his translational and clinical interests focused on determinants of age-related skeletal fragility and strategies to reduce fracture risk. Specific areas of expertise included musculoskeletal frailty, osteoporosis in old age, and innovative trial design.

Steven served as an advisor on numerous boards and committees. In recent years, he was intimately involved in the design and coordination of a number of international multicenter clinical trials of various pharmacological agents for the promotion of musculoskeletal integrity in patients with osteoporosis.

Steven was an active member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), where he was an elected member of the Scientific Committee, conducting multinational research projects and advising IOF on scientific matters and objectives for clinical and basic research. As a brilliant lecturer he served on many IOF courses, e.g. the Advanced Training Course on Osteoporosis and the IOF/ISCD DXA courses.

He was an active and regular contributor to the ASBMR Annual Meeting for many years, participating as an abstract reviewer, session moderator, symposium speaker, and Meet-the-Professor presenter.