Dr. Rene is the President of the International Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology and the Christian de Duve Institute of Cellular Pathology(Patron HM Queen Fabiola), Professor Emeritus at the Rockefeller University, USA., and Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at the Catholic University of Louvain. He was educated at the Jesuit College, Antwerp, the Catholic University of Louvain, Medical Nobel Institute Stockholm and Washington University. Professor de Duve started his scientific and research career as Louvain Lecturer in the Medical Faculty at the Catholic University of Louvain in 1947 and stayed in this appointment till 1951 when he was made Professor of Biochemistry at the University. He held this senior appointment until 1985 when he became thereafter Professor Emeritus. Between 1962 and 1988 Professor de Duve was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Biochemical Cytology at the Rockefeller University, New York, USA (now Professor Emeritus) and he has been Visiting Professor at many universities hroughout the world. Professor de Duve has been a Member of a great number of Editorial Boards and Committees. He is a Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine Belgium, Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society London, Fellow of the Royal Society Canada, Foreign Associate of NAS USA and has many honours and decorations to his name including Prix des Alumni, Prix Pfizer, Prix Franqui, Prix Quinquennal Belge des Sciences Medicales, Gairdner Foundation International Award of Merit, Dr. H.P. Heineken Prijis and the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. Professor de Duve has numerous scientific publications to his name including ‘A Guided Tour of the Living Cell’ and ‘Blueprint for a Cell’ and is one of the great pioneers of modern Molecular Biology. By accepting the Institution’s invitation Professor de Duve became the Institution’s First Honorary Member.