Professor Vermersch studied medicine at Lille University Hospital, France, where he graduated in neurology. He then completed his education in cellular biology between 1990 and 1994 with a PhD focused on biochemical abnormalities associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases; his research interests then turned to MS.

Professor Vermersch is now Vice-President of Research and Head of one of the Departments of Neurology at the University of Lille, which deals with MS and other neuroinflammatory diseases. The department’s principal scientific interests are neuroimmunology and markers of disease evolution. In 2000, he created with colleagues the first MS network in northern France to improve both care and research in MS. His current areas of interest are prognostic markers of MS and neuroimmunology in general, and he has published almost 400 scientific papers as author or co-author.