Wim Betz

Willem (Wim) Betz (22 February 1943 – 8 June 2019) was a Flemish physician and professor emeritus at the Belgian university Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he was head of the center for training in general medical practice until November 2007.

Betz was a leading skeptic in Flanders and participant in the EU COST B4 Project (a European initiative for comprehensive research on complementary and alternative medicine).

According to Betz, the explanations can be found in the field of psychosomatics (which studies how the mind can affect the body), in the placebo effect, in the fact that many illnesses disappear spontaneously (e.g., common colds) or fluctuate (e.g., allergies), as well as in the deceptive methods of quackery.

Betz was a co-founder of SKEPP, a non-profit organisation that promotes scientific skepticism in Belgium, where he started as secretary and then led as president and vice-president from 2005 to 2013.

[3] He has participated actively in the debate on near-death experiences, following the publication of an article by the Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel.