Hendrik Van Poppel

Co-Chair, Inequalities Network, European Cancer Organisation

Hendrik Van Poppel, MD, PhD, graduated in General Surgery in 1980, in Urology in 1983 and joined the Academic Unit at KU Leuven in 1985 after his postgraduate training in London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Mainz and Rotterdam. He became full Professor of Urology in 1993, and chair of the department of urology in Leuven in 2002. He was visiting Professor in Aachen (DE), Munster (DE), ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL), Linz (AU), Barcelona (SP), Jönköping (SE), Marburg (DE), Cardiff (UK), London (UK), Heidelberg (DE), Mainz (DE), Timisoara (RO), Surabaya (ID) and Vienna (AU) were he demonstrated live uro-oncologic surgery. Other live demonstrations took place in Nijmegen (NL), Zaragoza (SP), L’Aquila (IT), Leuven (BE), Brussels (BE), Milan (IT), Torino 2x (IT), Tbilisi (GE), Djakovié (RKS), La Vallette (MT) and Alexandria (EGIPT).

His clinic was about exclusively focused on Onco-urological surgery. He performed more than 2500 radical prostatectomies and countless major open oncological surgeries for kidney, bladder, prostate, testis and penile cancer.

He was Treasurer of the EORTC Genito-Urinary Group between 1997 and 2011, Board Member of the EORTC between 2004 and 2008, President of the Belgian Association of Urology 2009 – 2010.

During 8 years he was Director of the European School of Urology (ESU) and became EAU Adjunct Secretary General, responsible for Education, in 2012-2021. He was co-founder and is now Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Europa Uomo, Faculty Member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and was Board Member of ECCO.

He is honorary member of the Asociatia Romana de Urologie (ARU), the Dutch Urological Association (DUA), the Georgian Urological Association (GUA), the Hungarian Association of Urology (HSU), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie (DGU), the Chinese Urological Association (CUA), the Polish Urological Association (PTU), the Georgian Association of Oncological Urology (GUA), Taiwan Urological Association (TUA) and Japanese Urological Association (JUA).

In recent years, during his mandate as Adjunct Secretary General of the EAU he built the EAU Offices for Patient affairs and for European policy in Brussels.

Updated: October 2021