Lieve Fransen, MD, PhD is, since 2011, the Director for Social Policies in the Directorate for Employment and Social affairs for the European Commission. Before that she was Director for Representations in the Directorate for Communication and was in charge of the 35 Representations with 500 staff and for more than 500 networks across the European Union .She started her career as a Medical Doctor in Africa during the 1970s and 1980s (mainly in Mozambique, Kenya and Rwanda).