Mario Vaneechoutte (°1959, Poperinge, Belgium) obtained his master in Zoology at the Ghent Unversity (Belgium) in 1982 and earned his PhD in Microbiology at Ghent University in 1990. He was appointed in 1997 as a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology & Immunology and is full professor since 2008.

His main research thus far concerned the development of rapid molecular techniques for the detection, quantification, species identification and strain genotyping of bacterial and fungal species, techniques that contributed to the study of complex microbial communities of the human body. Since 1999, several collaborations with clinical services, mainly at the Ghent University Hospital have been started, basically regarding chronic infections which are difficult to treat with classical (antibiotic) treatment, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic colonization of cystic fibrosis patient airways, and recurrent bacterial vaginosis.

He is also a promoter of bacteriophage therapy since 1999, as an alternative solution for the increasing antimicrobial resistance of bacteria.