To continue its growth and bring in additional expertise, MnD has welcomed three new monkeys
Ghent, Belgium, November 28, 2022 –Monkeys not Donkeys (MnD), a scientific marketing and communication agency and
part of the QbD Group, continues to strengthen its team by welcoming Maritina Kanatselou, Emma Buchet, and Wouter Laroy.
Maritina Kanatselou will become MnD’s new Art Director & Lead Designer. Maritina was visual designer and brand manager
with biotechnology company Galapagos, providing art direction and quality control for their brand visuals. She has over 15
years of design experience and completed her BA at the University of West London, with additional education in Wales and Athens.
To add extra expertise to MnD’s editorial services, Emma Buchet will join the team as Copywriter. Emma holds a Masters in
Scientific Communication and a BSc in Molecular Medicine. She also holds a science communication fellowship with Hiroshima
University in Japan. Emma’s experience includes editorial support, grant applications and scientific copywriting for innovation
driven organizations. Emma has Irish roots and lives in France. Therefore, she is fluent in French, while English is her mother
tongue.
To bring in additional scientific knowledge, MnD has also teamed up with Wouter Laroy. Wouter has experience as Chief
Scientific Officer and researcher at VIB in Belgium and John’s Hopkins Institute in the US. He holds a PhD in Biotechnology
from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Wouter has experience in marketing and business strategy within scientifically driven organizations. He also has a profound
understanding of how to communicate with a wide range of key stakeholders, including investors, board members, collaboration
partners, researchers, business developers, and marketers.
This is the first significant growth of MnD’s expertise since the company was acquired by QbD in April of this year.
Kristoff Baeten, founder and managing director of Monkeys not Donkeys, commented:
“Since we became part of the QbD group, we feel we have become more attractive as an agency to hire high profiles.
As we are a small team, it’s so important to get the right people – those with the right experience, but also enough
flexibility and vision to see beyond their area of expertise and be able to work across industries. These new additions
will enable us to strengthen our existing team and bring in new and more in-depth expertise to be able to connect
with our clients on many levels to gain a better understanding and make campaigns more effective. Wouter, Emma,
and Maritina are a good fit with the Monkeys – we’re excited to see how their involvement helps us to evolve as a
team and as a company.”
Bart Van Acker, CEO of QbD Group, stated:
“We are very pleased to welcome Maritina, Emma and Wouter to the QbD Group. Just as we are continuously
expanding our already broad ecosystem through strategic alliances and acquisitions, we support the growth of our
subsidiaries in turn. Together with our commercialization team of ‘Health to Market’, these new additions will allow
our Go to Market division to round out their existing design and editorial services and include more focused marketing
and business strategy support to clients.”
About ‘Monkeys not Donkeys’
Founded in 2010, Kristoff Baeten transformed his company into a full-service communication agency for life science
organizations in 2018, by introducing the brand ‘Monkeys not Donkeys’. In April 2022, MnD officially joined the QbD Group
to ensure its continued growth and offer additional support. The brand name refers to the creativity, inventiveness and positivity
that drives its dynamic and well-balanced team of scientists, creative profiles and strategists. For more information, visit (www.monkeysnotdonkeys.agency)
About Quality by Design:
Since 2011, QbD has been providing quality solutions for product development and manufacturing. The QbD Group’s team offers the skills
and expertise for solving complex problems for companies active in the life sciences. The QbD Group is headquartered in Belgium and has
over 450 consultants worldwide in the Netherlands, Spain, France, the UK, Switzerland, Mexico, Colombia, and the US. . For more
information about the QbD Group, visit (www.qbd.eu)
QbD Group offers life science companies a range of services from idea to patient within seven divisions:
• Regulatory Affairs: We help our clients in their journey throughout the entire drug and medical device regulatory lifecycle.
• Clinical: We are an expert clinical solutions provider specialized in medical devices and biotech, offering global CRO services and
consultancy.
• Qualification and Validation: We guarantee that products meet quality demands and comply with regulations through the
qualification and validation of your equipment, facilities, and process support.
• Quality Assurance: We offer the full range of QA services necessary to get your product to market in a safe and compliant way,
including auditing from certified auditors, setting up your QMS, and all QP (Qualified Person) activities.
• Quality Control: Our QC division consists of a GMP laboratory that offers analytical services for testing pharmaceutical raw
materials, excipients, and release testing of finished products.
• Software Solutions & Services: Our solutions include a cloud-based and pre-validated QMS built for the life sciences, as well as
eIFU services which enable IVD and MD manufacturers to digitalize paper Instructions For Use. Our range of services includes
Computer System Validation and Digital Health services.
• Go-to-market: We offer marketing and communication services to all life science clients and strategic, tailor-made services for
commercialization
Media contact:
Monkeys not Donkeys
Kristoff Baeten
General manager, MnD
hello@monkeysnotdonkeys.agency
Quality by Design
Peter Goossens
Head of marketing & communication, QbD