Benson Ogunjimi

Benson Ogunjimi has received broad multidisciplinary training in physics (Master) and medicine (MD), both at the University of Antwerp (UAntwerp, Belgium). He continued his multidisciplinary training by obtaining a joined PhD in Medical Sciences (UAntwerp) and Science (Hasselt University).

In 2018, Benson became part-time (10%) assistant professor at the UAntwerp Centre for Health Economics and Modeling Infectious Diseases (CHERMID) - Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute. In 2023, he became a research (associate, 50%) professor. Additionally, he is a board-certified paediatrician and works part-time as a paediatric rheumatologist at the Antwerp University Hospital (50% FTE 1/2/2017 - Current).

In his position, Benson has built a multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary research team within CHERMID-VAXINFECTIO called the Antwerp Center for Translational Immunology and Virology (ACTIV), which he directs since 2018. There are currently 1 associate professor (Benson), 4 postdocs and 4 PhD students working at ACTIV. ACTIV generates multidimensional/OMICS and longitudinal T cell data and subsequently develops mathematical & computational models to better understand both fundamental human immunology and translational immunology.

Benson is also the co-founder and biomedical coordinator of the AUDACIS (Antwerp Unit for Data Analysis and Computation in Immunology and Sequencing) consortium, a multidisciplinary and interfaculty consortium at the UAntwerp.

Together with his AUDACIS co-PIs (Kris Laukens & Pieter Meysman), Benson co-founded in 2021 a spinoff called ImmuneWatch™. ImmuneWatch focuses on making T cell receptor data relevant for patients and industry through machine learning. ImmuneWatch has offered services for several companies and has been participating as a funded partner to two Horizon2020 projects.