History
AML was founded under the leadership of Mr Jozef Verstraete, doctor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics. In 1982, the original laboratory moved to Desguinlei 88 in Antwerp. Campus Hof Ter Beke (HTB) in Wilrijk was started in 1991. On this separate campus, only toxicological analyses were executed. In 1984, veterinarian Arlette Vandenberghe joined the team. She founded the laboratory’s veterinary department. Processing veterinary samples on such a large scale was an absolute first.
Until then, AML provided services within Belgium to local applicants and fellow laboratories. However, at the beginning of the 90s, AML also started providing analytical services for the Netherlands. In 1994, AML was one of the very first laboratories in Flanders to obtain Beltest accreditation according to ISO standard 17025.
Since 1997 and until now, Pharm. Clin. Biol. Marc Uytterhoeven has overseen the medical management of AML laboratory.
In 2001, the daily management of AML was taken over by the new Executive Board, Pharm. Clin. Biol. Geert Salembier en Pharm. Clin. Biol. Annie Vereecken.
Under their leadership, in September 2007 Waterland PE, was established and Medhold was founded, as well as the construction of a new building to house the entire lab platform at Emiel Vloorsstraat 9 in Antwerp.
Since November 2007, AML has made the transition to the medical ISO standard 15189 for human analyses. In 2008, Clinilabo Antwerp was integrated into AML and Clinical Laboratory Rigo Genk was incorporated into Medhold. The AML Laboratory for Industrial Medicine, Toxicology and Legal Analyses (ATG) (Campus HTB) moved from Wilrijk to the new laboratory located on Emiel Vloorsstraat 9 in Antwerp.
The routine laboratory, the pre-analytical phase and the administrative departments of AML also moved to Emiel Vloorsstraat in May 2010.
Since February 2010, Medhold is part of Sonic Healthcare, an international, professional laboratory group that has been active in the laboratory world since 1987. In addition to Australia and North America, Sonic has also acquired a position as market leader in Europe. In 2011, the laboratory activities were further strengthened by the integration of KBL and, at the start of 2013, Labo Lokeren bvba Campus RIATOL. For this purpose, anatomic pathologist John-Paul Bogers was appointed Laboratory Director for the Pathology Department of AML. Since October 2022, he has handed over medical responsibility to Dr. anatomic pathologist Ingrid Neetens. In 2017, the routine laboratory activity was further expanded thanks to the integration of the laboratory activities of Lab Partners Boom.
Further consolidation was carried out in the following years, so Labo Lokeren was integrated in 2018 and AML Brussels in 2019, resulting in the current AML.
In addition to the important laboratory sites in Genk and Antwerp, the Group also has a strong laboratory in West-Flanders. Originally, 3 laboratories (Ardooie – Brugge – Moeskroen) functioned independently, but in order to further optimise services, the various entities were merged in different phases. Finally, in December 2020 the legal entity Laboratoire J. Woestyn SRL was merged with Medical Laboratory D. Van Waes – D. Declerck BV with retroactive effect as of 1st July 2020. Subsequently, a name change was implemented, namely General Medical Laboratory WEST (BV) (Algemeen Medisch Laboratorium) , abbreviated to AML WEST (BV).
These 3 strong pillars form our laboratory network in Flanders today, each with its own individuality and local presence, in order to support our doctors in the best possible way.
Since July 2022, Apr. Klin. Biol. Astrid Coppens assumed the day-to-day operational management.
Until then, AML provided services within Belgium to local applicants and fellow laboratories. However, at the beginning of the 90s, AML also started providing analytical services for the Netherlands. In 1994, AML was one of the very first laboratories in Flanders to obtain Beltest accreditation according to ISO standard 17025.
Since 1997 and until now, Pharm. Clin. Biol. Marc Uytterhoeven has overseen the medical management of AML laboratory.
In 2001, the daily management of AML was taken over by the new Executive Board, Pharm. Clin. Biol. Geert Salembier en Pharm. Clin. Biol. Annie Vereecken.
Under their leadership, in September 2007 Waterland PE, was established and Medhold was founded, as well as the construction of a new building to house the entire lab platform at Emiel Vloorsstraat 9 in Antwerp.
Since November 2007, AML has made the transition to the medical ISO standard 15189 for human analyses. In 2008, Clinilabo Antwerp was integrated into AML and Clinical Laboratory Rigo Genk was incorporated into Medhold. The AML Laboratory for Industrial Medicine, Toxicology and Legal Analyses (ATG) (Campus HTB) moved from Wilrijk to the new laboratory located on Emiel Vloorsstraat 9 in Antwerp.
The routine laboratory, the pre-analytical phase and the administrative departments of AML also moved to Emiel Vloorsstraat in May 2010.
Since February 2010, Medhold is part of Sonic Healthcare, an international, professional laboratory group that has been active in the laboratory world since 1987. In addition to Australia and North America, Sonic has also acquired a position as market leader in Europe. In 2011, the laboratory activities were further strengthened by the integration of KBL and, at the start of 2013, Labo Lokeren bvba Campus RIATOL. For this purpose, anatomic pathologist John-Paul Bogers was appointed Laboratory Director for the Pathology Department of AML. Since October 2022, he has handed over medical responsibility to Dr. anatomic pathologist Ingrid Neetens. In 2017, the routine laboratory activity was further expanded thanks to the integration of the laboratory activities of Lab Partners Boom.
Further consolidation was carried out in the following years, so Labo Lokeren was integrated in 2018 and AML Brussels in 2019, resulting in the current AML.
In addition to the important laboratory sites in Genk and Antwerp, the Group also has a strong laboratory in West-Flanders. Originally, 3 laboratories (Ardooie – Brugge – Moeskroen) functioned independently, but in order to further optimise services, the various entities were merged in different phases. Finally, in December 2020 the legal entity Laboratoire J. Woestyn SRL was merged with Medical Laboratory D. Van Waes – D. Declerck BV with retroactive effect as of 1st July 2020. Subsequently, a name change was implemented, namely General Medical Laboratory WEST (BV) (Algemeen Medisch Laboratorium) , abbreviated to AML WEST (BV).
These 3 strong pillars form our laboratory network in Flanders today, each with its own individuality and local presence, in order to support our doctors in the best possible way.
Since July 2022, Apr. Klin. Biol. Astrid Coppens assumed the day-to-day operational management.