Genetic Counselling in Belgium: the Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Leuven, 1960-1990

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. All rights reserved. This chapter traces the history of the Center for Human Genetics (CHG)- the first centre of this kind in Belgium-at the University of Leuven from the 1960s to the 1990s. In 1960, a laboratory for diagnostic chromosomal research was set up by the physician and geneticist Herman Van den Berghe. In 1966, this laboratory was turned into the Center for Human Genetics (CHG), which combined a service of genetic counselling with genetic research. The paper discusses the evolution of the Leuven CHG in relation to developments within the Faculty of Medicine and the University of Leuven, to government policies on genetics and to wider social debates. The CHG's expansion in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s was paralleled by governmental attention to the field of human genetics and the life sciences. State support was allocated to eight genetic centres, which-following the Leuven model-were integrated into the Belgian academic hospitals, resulting in a decentralised model. This system of financing contributed, it will be shown, to the multidisciplinary nature of genetic research and counselling in Belgium. The paper also pays attention to contemporary ethical debates about medical technologies, of which genetic diagnoses were part. While these debates were conducted nationwide, they were particularly present at the University of Leuven, as the institution struggled to reconcile its Catholic heritage with its modern research ambitions.

ISBN:978-3-319-51782-7

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