Katrien Kesteloot is full professor at the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven. She is also financial director of UZ Leuven and chairwoman of the board of directors of care network Emmaüs.

Prof. Kesteloot obtained a degree in economics at KU Leuven before successfully defending her PhD in economic sciences in 1990. That same year, she became a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven. She is affiliated with the Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. In October 2000, she became a full professor and has been ever since. 

From 1999 to 2002 prof. Kesteloot was director of Strategy and Financing Systems at UZ Leuven, where she has been financial director since 2002. She is also head of the research unit Financing and Organization of Healthcare Policy and a member of the Treasury & Investment Committee of the university.

In 2006, she became a member of the board of directors of care network Emmaüs, where she became vice-chairwoman in 2012, chairwoman of the audit committee in 2013 and chairwoman of the board of directors in 2017.

From 2014 to 2020, prof. Kesteloot was an expert advisor on hospital financing in the policy cell of Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health Maggie De Block (Open Vld). Since 2015, Kesteloot has been a member of the board of directors and the audit committee of Aedificia, a real estate company specialized in healthcare real estate.