About

• MD, PhD, FACS, (hon)FASMBS
• Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven Alumni member (MD graduation 1977), surgical promotion 1982.
• Currently staff member surgical dept Delta CHIREC hospital Brussels.
• Senior past president of the Benelux Association of Bariatric Surgery (BABS, 2004-2005) - past president of IFSO World (2017-2018) - chairman of the senior advisory board IFSO-EC (2024-...)
• Prizes:
• Received the ASMBS Outstanding Achievement Award (2011)
• Received ASMBS International Award (2014)
• Received Antoni de Gimbernat Award Barcelona, Spain (2017)
• Received ASMBS Lifetime Achievement Award (2019)
• Received Life Membership Award IFSO (2023)
• Honorary membership of SOFFCO (2011)
• Honorary membership of the Portuguese Society of Bariatric Surgery (2011)
• Honorary membership of BOMSS (2017)
• Honorary membership of SECO (2018)
• Honorary membership of the Ukrainian Society of Bariatric Surgeons (2019)
• Honorary membership of the Israeli Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
• Surgical achievements:
• Performed Belgium's first radical nephrectomy byretroperitoneoscopy (1993)
• Performed world's first robotic surgery (lap cholecystectomy) on a human (Intuitive prototype "Mona") (March 1997)
• Performed Belgium's first laparoscopic Gastric Bypass (1999)
• Performed Belgium's first laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (Sept 2001) and Duodenal Switch (later same year)