Meet the Expert luncheon

Upper GI – Lorenzo Ferri (Canada)
Professor Lorenzo Ferri, MD PhD, is the David S. Mulder Chair in Surgery at McGill University in Montréal and Director of the Division of Thoracic and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, a position he has held since 2011. As a clinical scientist in the Departments of Surgery and Oncology, he leads the McGill University Programme in Upper GI Cancer, focusing on complex malignancies of the foregut. He was the first physician in Canada to introduce endoscopic submucosal dissection for early oesophageal and gastric cancers, and his clinical research spans neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens, the palliation of metastatic disease and the optimisation of outcomes after oesophageal surgery. His laboratory work, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Cancer Society, investigates the inflammatory basis of cancer metastasis.

Hernia – Victor Radu (Romania)
Associate Professor Victor Radu, PhD, (Hon) FEBS-AWS

Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Bucharest

Specialized in general surgery, advanced laparoscopic surgery and robotic surgery, experienced in the field of hernia surgery for more than 25 years.
Subspecialised in hernia surgery and abdominal wall reconstruction accredited by UEMS-EHS.
He is a private surgeon, affiliated with Life Memorial Hospital, Bucharest, Romania, being the Director of Center of Excellence in Hernia Surgery – Medlife.
Throughout his astonishing career, he has contiued to be involved in medical education, organising many training courses and clinical immersion events, also conferences and workshops.
He is the European pioneer in developement of the eTEP and eTEP-TAR technique in laparo-endoscopic retro-muscular abdominal wall reconstruction, and the Romanian pioneer in complex abdominal wall reconstruction using chemorelaxation with Botulinum toxin A.
His expertise in abdominal wall surgery counts more than two thounsends procedures of abdominal wall reconstruction for complex incisional hernias (open, laparoscopic and robotic approach) and more than four thousends procedures for inguinal hernia repair, majority being performed laparoscopically and robotically.

He is the president of association Hernia Training Center, member in the European Hernia Society and American Hernia Society.

Colorectal benign – Willem Bemelman (The Netherlands)
Professor Willem Bemelman, MD PhD, is Professor of Minimally Invasive and Colorectal Surgery at Amsterdam UMC, where he established one of the most advanced units in the Netherlands for the laparoscopic treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. An EBSQ-certified colorectal surgeon, he is co-founder and former chair of the Surgeons of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (S-ECCO) and a past president of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP). With nearly 600 peer-reviewed publications, more than 45 doctoral candidates supervised and an h-index of 68, his work has helped shape modern surgical practice in IBD, colorectal cancer and the prevention and management of surgical complications.

Colorectal malignant – Antonino Spinelli (Italy)
Professor Antonino Spinelli, MD PhD FASCRS, is the Director of the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery and Co-Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of Humanitas Hospital, Full Professor of Surgery, Director of the General Surgery Residency Program and Lead of Technology and Innovation Committee at Humanitas University.

He is Past President of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP).

Professor Spinelli devoted most of his career to surgical innovation and research, with over 490 Pubmed indexed publications (H-index of 69 on Scopus). He has been awarded the Honorary Fellowship of several scientific Societies, among which the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, the Dutch Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. He gave more than 500 lectures at international congresses and academic institutions.

Liver – Go Wakabayashi (Japan)
Professor Go Wakabayashi, MD PhD FACS, is one of the most influential figures in laparoscopic liver surgery worldwide. He is Director of the Centre for Advanced Treatment of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Diseases and Chief of Surgical Services at Ageo Central General Hospital in Saitama, having previously served as Professor and Chairman of Surgery at Iwate Medical University from 2005 to 2015. A graduate of Keio University School of Medicine, with fellowship training at Harvard Medical School, he has performed more than 1,500 laparoscopic and robotic liver resections in addition to over 150 living-donor liver transplants. He performed the world’s first robotic liver resection in 2001 and served as President of the International Laparoscopic Liver Society from 2019 to 2021. He also chaired the landmark Morioka Consensus Conference, which set the international benchmark for laparoscopic liver surgery.

Technologies – Marlies Schijven (The Netherlands)
Professor Marlies Schijven, MD PhD MHSc, is Full Professor of Surgery at Amsterdam UMC and holds the University Chair in Digital Health at the University of Amsterdam. A practising upper GI surgeon with a clinical focus on GORD, achalasia and motility disorders, she is internationally recognised as a pioneer in digital health, mobile and serious-game-based medical education, and the integration of wearables, surgical data recorders and other smart technologies into the operating theatre. She was appointed the first Chief Medical Information Officer to the Dutch Government and serves as a (supervisory) board member of ZonMw, Meander Medical Centre and a number of other research and innovation organisations. Her work continues to bridge clinical surgery, education and digital innovation.

Surgical research – Barbara Seeliger (France)
Dr. Barbara Seeliger, MD PhD HDR FACS, is a visceral surgeon and surgeon-scientist at the IHU-Strasbourg Institute of Image-Guided Surgery, the Strasbourg University Hospitals and the University of Strasbourg, where she also serves as Professeure Conventionnée. As senior researcher at IHU-Strasbourg, and a long-standing trainer in laparoscopic, robotic and endoscopic courses at IRCAD, she works at the interface of minimally invasive surgery, robotics, fluorescence and optical imaging, artificial intelligence and surgical data science, with particular interests in endocrine surgery and advanced endoscopy. She is an active member of the European Society of Endocrine Surgeons (ESES) and EAES, and is widely cited for her contributions to image-guided and computer-assisted surgery.