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Jacques Himpens, MD, PhD is a professor of surgery associated with the Université Libre de Bruxelles and chief of bariatric surgery at the CHIREC Delta hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
Born February 15, 1953, he graduated as MD cum laude from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in 1977 and trained at the surgery department of the Leuven university hospitals (1977-1982). After passing the Visa Qualifying Examination to qualify for medical practice in the US, he benefited from additional training with Dr Louis Del Guercio at the New York Medical College and affiliated hospitals from 1982 through 1984. While in New York he was involved with research on hypovolemic shock, which in 1984 resulted in the design of an indwelling oncometer catheter that obtained a worldwide patent. In the mean time he passed his surgical boards with the Belgian public health office in 1984. After 8 years in private practice in Gent, Belgium he joined the “Université Libre de Bruxelles” in 1992 and became an attending surgeon in the gastro-intestinal department at the St Pierre University Hospital Brussels under leadership of Guy-Bernard Cadière. On March 3, 1997 he performed the world’s first “robotic” procedure, which consisted of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy with the Intuitive Surgery “Mona” prototype. Later on, he remained personally actively involved with the first developments of “robotic” surgery and performed numerous “robotic” procedures such as Nissen fundoplication, lysis of adhesions, lumbar sympathectomy, inguinal hernia repair, intrarectal procedures and some adjustable band gatroplasties (AGB). The latter procedures were in line with the developments at the department since Himpens had assisted professor Cadière when he performed the world’s first laparoscopic adjustable band gastroplasty (AGB) in October 1992.
Starting in 1993, Dr Himpens combined his academic career with a private practice at the St Blasius Hospital at Dendermonde, Belgium. He founded the bariatric unit at the St Blasius Hospital in 1999 and in 2004 the bariatric department at the Edith Cavell Hospitals (CHIREC) at Brussels, Belgium. After having personally performed some 1000 AGB procedures he performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass in Belgium in 1999 and the first laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, followed by the first biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, both in 2001. Starting 2003, he and his team at the St Blasius Hospital performed close to 2000 laparoscopic bariatric procedures a year, including all “classic” bariatric procedures according to an empirical algorithm he designed and published. By 2018 he had performed over 15000 laparoscopic obesity procedures, many of them revisional. In February 2013 he obtained his doctor’s degree at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, under the guidance of professor Jan-Willem Greve with a thesis “ Adjustable Gastric Band, Sleeve Gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass by laparoscopy: long term outcomes and laparoscopic strategies in case of failure”. In addition to his appointment with the Université Libre de Bruxelles he is currently part of the faculty at the Institut pour la Recherché sur les Cancers Digestifs (IRCAD), at Strasbourg, France, where he teaches laparoscopic bariatric surgery.
Over the last years his teaching commitment comprised the training of numerous residents and fellows –many from abroad- whom he successfully encouraged to publish in distinguished journals.
Recently, in cooperation with professor Francois Pattou he got involved with the research on Natural Orifice Endolumenal Strategy (NOTES) at the university of Lille, France and the use of this technique for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. To this purpose he developed and co-patented an incisionless anastomotic tool that is manufactured by the Cousin ° company (Wervik, France) and is presently being evaluated in animal tests.
He is president of the International Federation for Obesity and Metabolic Diseases (IFSO) 2017-2018. He is a co-opted member of the Belgian society for Obesity and Metabolic Diseases (BeSoms). Because of his achievements in bariatric surgery in 2015 he was awarded the title of honorary fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). He is an honorary member of the French and the Spanish Society of Obesity Surgery (SOFFCO and SECO, respectively) and will receive the fellowship title of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) in October, 2018.
He published over 160 articles in peer reviewed medical journals, authored a substantial number of chapters in surgical books and more specifically in books on bariatric surgery and co-edited four books on bariatric surgery. He is co-editor for the “Obesity Surgery” journal and is a member of the editorial board of “SOARD”.