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21 - Jacques Himpens 2017-2018 Belgium

Professor Himpens trained in Leuven, Belgium, and in New York
before beginning a distinguished career devoted to advancing
laparoscopic technique and international surgical leadership. He
served as President of IFSO from 2017-2018, a role reflecting his
immense impact on the field, and he continues to chair the Senior
Advisory Board of the IFSO-EC. In October 1992, he assisted in
the world’s first laparoscopic adjustable gastric band procedure,
and in 1997, he performed the world’s first robotic laparoscopic
surgery, a cholecystectomy using the “Mona” prototype robot. He
performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass in Belgium in
1999, followed by the country’s first laparoscopic sleeve
gastrectomy and first biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal
switch. Himpens has performed over 15,000 MBS operations.
Renowned as a prolific educator, Himpens dedicated much of his
career to proctoring and mentoring surgeons across Europe,
performing over 100 live demonstration surgeries at congresses
to train the next generation of MBS specialists. He founded the
MBS unit at St. Blasius Hospital in Dendermonde, and currently
serves as an Emeritus Clinical Professor and staff member at the
Delta CHIREC Hospital in Brussels. On behalf of his immense
global contributions, Himpens was honored as an IFSO Life
Member, and also the ASMBS Outstanding Achievement and
International Awards.

22 - Almino Ramos 2018-2019 Brazil

Professor Ramos has specialized in bariatric surgery since 1999
and, together with Dr. Manoela Galvão Ramos, founded the
Gastro-Obeso Center in São Paulo in 2002, where he remains
medical director. A professor at the University of Campinas
(UNICAMP) and ABC Medical University, he served as President of
the Brazilian Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery (SBCBM)
from 2013-2014. He served as President of IFSO from 2018-2019,
during which he championed the IFSO Global Registry project,
working with its data partner to recruit national societies and
individual surgeons to contribute their data. Ten new countries
joined the Registry, resulting in a doubling of total submitted
records within a year in the fifth IFSO Global Registry Report
released at the 2019 IFSO World Congress in Madrid. Renowned
as a master technical educator, Ramos has performed over 500
live broadcast demonstration surgeries to train international
teams. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed
publications and serves on the editorial boards of Obesity Surgery
and Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.

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