Reasoning
- The claim refers to the research center for gene therapy and RNA-based drugs established by the University of Padua, financed through Italy's PNRR with €320 million.
- The University of Padua created a Foundation on 8 June 2022 to manage that gene therapy research line, and Orgenesis (where Heiko von der Leyen is Medical Director) designated him as its representative on the Foundation's Consiglio di sorveglianza (supervisory board).
- Orgenesis announced in September 2022 that he was taking on the supervisory board/committee role, and he was formally appointed to the supervisory board on 30 September 2022.
- So the substance — that he sat on the supervisory board of the Padua gene therapy research center — is accurate, and multiple independent sources confirm it.
- However, the present tense "sits" is inaccurate: he resigned from that role in October 2022, about a month after being appointed, after Italian media reported on his involvement. The EU transparency commissioner also later found no conflict of interest.
Overall validity: 75%
(Substantively true — he was appointed to the supervisory board of the Padua gene-therapy/RNA research foundation — but the claim's present tense is misleading, since he resigned in October 2022.)