Kurt Van Der Speeten MD, PhD

Prof. dr. dr. Kurt Van der Speeten is oncology and abdominal surgeon. He received his surgical training in Belgium (UZ Leuven) and South Africa (Pretoria Academic Hospital). An additional qualification in oncological surgery was acquired during the same period at the Washington Cancer Institute (Washington DC, USA).

Since 2001 he has been working as an abdominal surgeon at the Oost-Limburg Hospital. His clinical expertise includes colorectal surgery (open surgery, minimally invasive, and robotic surgery) and complex oncology surgery (peritoneal cancer, sarcoma surgery, pelvic exenterations,...). He is one of the pioneers in the surgical treatment of peritoneal tumors (HIPEC) and has performed more than 1000 HIPEC operations. He guides centers worldwide in starting up centers for the treatment of peritoneal tumors.

Between 2002 and 2011, this clinical expertise was combined with research on this topic at the Washington Cancer Institute (conducted by Prof Paul Sugarbaker) and the University Uppsala (Sweden, led by Prof Lars Pahlman and Prof Haile Mahteme). He obtained his doctorate summa cum laude in 2011 at both institutes with a dissertation 'A Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Rationale for Perioperative Cancer Chemotherapy in Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis'. Since 2011, he is a post-PhD research fellow at the Washington Cancer Institute (USA) and Ph.D. supervisor at Hasselt University. He is also charged with a teaching assignment in pharmacology and surgery, also at Uhasselt within the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences.