Editorial board

Co-Editor-In-Chief

Prof. Bertrand Tombal

Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussel, Belgium
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Prof. Bertrand Tombal is Chairman of the Division of Urology and Associated Professor of Physiology at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
He has both a basic science and a clinical interest in urological oncology, particularly in the field of prostate and bladder cancer. Prof. Tombal obtained his MD in 1990 and his PhD in 2003, both from the Université catholique de Louvain. During his PhD, he studied the mechanisms involved in apoptosis of prostate cancer cells and the modulation of apoptosis by growth factors. He completed part of his basic sciences training at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Prof. Tombal’s primary clinical interest is the treatment of advanced stages of prostate cancer, and particularly the development of new biological agents. He is heading the uro-oncology division at the Université catholique de Louvain where he is coordinating several trials in this research area.
In addition, Prof. Tombal has authored many published papers and book chapters. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences and has been the recipient of various awards for his research in the field of urology, including the European Association of Urology thesis award, which he received in 2003. Prof. Tombal is also a member of the Scientific Committee of European Association of Urology and of the Executive Committee of EORTC genitourinary group.
Prof. Hendrik Van Poppel

UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Professor Hein Van Poppel is the Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven.

He graduated in General Surgery in 1980, in Urology in 1983 and joined the Academic Unit at the KU Leuven after 2 years of postgraduate training in London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Mainz and Rotterdam. In 1988, he obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences. He became a Fellow of the European Board of Urology in 1992 and a full Professor of Urology in 1993.

He is a board member of the European Association of Urology (EAU) and the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO). He is Chairman of the Educational Office of the EAU and director of the European School of Urology (ESU). He is also member of the American Association of Genito Urinary Surgeons (AAGUS). He is past-president of the Belgian Society of Urology (BVU), Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Europa Uomo and Faculty Member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO).

He has published more than 200 papers as first author on uro-oncological surgery and has co-authored more than 250 other papers.
Prof. Jack Schalken

UMC St Radboud, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Jack A Schalken (51) received his PhD at the science faculty of the University of Nijmegen in 1987, on a topic related to differential gene expression in cancer. He initiated the urological research program at the University Medical Centre (UMC) St Radboud from 1986 onwards. His main focus is on the molecular life sciences aspects of genitor-urinary pathologies, and his laboratory is housed in the Nijmegen Center for Molecular Life Sciences (NCMLS) at Nijmegen campus, integrating groups using similar approaches to combat various diseases.
He was appointed full professor of oncology at the University of Utrecht veterinary school (1996-2002), which he combined with his Nijmegen position. He was appointed professor of experimental urology in 2001 at the Nijmegen University. His group discovered in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1999 the Prostate CAncer gene 3 (PCA3).
Prof. Schalken has (co) authored ~ 271 peer reviewed papers, ~ 70 chapters and is often invited as lecturer.

Consulting editors

Dr. Paul Kil

St. Elisabeth Ziekenhuis, Tilburg, Netherlands
Dr. Theo de Reijke

Academisch Medisch Centrum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Theo M. de Reijke performed his medical training at the Free University in Amsterdam and is working since 1987 as urologist at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. In 2004 he successfully defended his thesis on immunotherapy for bladder cancer.
Uro-oncology is his main field of interest and he has been an active member of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer – Genito Urinary group (EORTC-GU) for many years. After serving as chairman of the prostate cancer subgroup, he was elected as secretary and later as chairman of the EORTC-GU group until June 2009. In the Netherlands, he is the chairman of the prostate cancer guideline committee and he is member of the bladder cancer guideline committee.
He is member of different international Urological societies (e.g. EAU, AUA, DGU), reviewer for several international journals and member of scientific boards for different journals. In 2011, he was elected as reviewer of the month for European Urology. He is chairman of the Dutch urological training program for residents and member of the European Board of Urology examination committee.
Recently he was elected as visiting professor for the medical school of Warsaw and he is honorary member of the Polish and Rumanian Urological Associations.
He is (co) author of over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals and he made contributions to many book chapters. He organised several scientific national and international meetings and is/was coordinator of international uro-oncology trials.
Dr. Jacques Irani

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Potiers "La Milétrie", Poitiers, France
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Prof. Jaques Irani studied medicine and received his PhD in clinical epidemiology and statistics. Currenly, he is Professor of Urology at the University Hospital Centre ‘La Milétrie’, Poitiers, France where he qualified in Urological Oncology. His main research interests in this field are uro-oncology. Prof. Irani is member of several national and international associations and societies including the Uro-Oncology Committee of the French Association of Urology (AFU), the Scientific Committee of the AFU, and the Board of the European Association of Urology Guidelines Committee. Prof. Irani is also member of several Editorial boards, including European Urology, Progrès en Urologie Formation continue and Annales d’urologie. Prof. Irani published over 160 publications in both national and international journals.
Dr. Richard Berges

PAN Klinik am Neumarkt, Köln, Germany
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Dr. Richard Berges, M.D., is Consultant Urologist at the Department of Urology, PAN-Clinic in Cologne, Germany. After graduating from medical school at the Westfaelische Wilhelms-University Muenster, Germany in 1989, he took up the post of Resident at the Department of Urology, Ruhr-University of Bochum in 1990. He then went on to undertake a Research Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University Oncology Center, Baltimore in the US in 1992, after which he returned to the Department of Urology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany as a Faculty Member in 1993. Since 2002 he is head of the Department of Urology in the PAN-Clinic in the centre of Cologne.
Dr. Berges is member of the German Urology Association since 1992 and member of the German Cancer Society since 1993. He was elected to the Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) Advisory Board of the German Urology Association in 1998 and to the Advisory Board on the Aging Male of the German Urology Association in 1999. He is president of the Governing body of Certified Prostate Centers in Germany and a member of the WHO Consultation on Prostate Diseases.
Dr. Berges has won several awards including the Reinhold Witzel Award for Prostate Research in 1994, the Paul Mellin Award at Nordrhein-Westfaelische Gesellschaft für Urologie in 1997, the Award for Urological Research of the German Society of Geriatrics in 1999 and the Mauermeyer Award of the German Society of Urology in 2001.
He is since many years interested in reseach in the fields of LUTS/BPH and PCa, in particular hormone therapy, and has published numerous articles in top-tier urological journals
Dott. Alessandro Volpe

Az.Osp. Maggiore Della Carita', Novara, Italy
Prof. Roberto Mario Scarpa

Università di Torino - A.O.U. San Luigi, Torino, Italy
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Prof. Roberto M. Scarpa qualified in medicine in 1979 at the University of Cagliari, Italy. He did an internship in Urology at the same University, where he obtained a Specialist Degree in Urology in 1984. In 1984-1985, he did a Visiting Clinical Fellowship at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Prof. Scarpa had several tutorial and teaching activities at the University of Cagliari as Assistant Professor (from 1985 till 1992) and subsequently as Associate Professor (from 1992 till 2000). Since November 2000 he is Director of the Department of Urology at the Hospital of Orbassano (Turin, Italy) and Professor at the University of Turin.

Prof. Scarpa has several affiliations to the major Italian and International Associations of Urology, and founded the Italian Society of Endourology in 1999.

Prof. Scarpa has published more than 200 articles, predominantly in the field of endourology, urodynamics and prostate cancer.
Dr. Fernando Gómez Sancha

Instituto de Cirugía Urológica Avanzada, Madrid, Spain
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After medical school at the Universidad Complutense, Dr. Fernando Gómez Sancha specialised as a Urological Surgeon at the Hospital Universitario de La Princesa in Madrid. He subspecialised in reconstructive urology at the Institute of Urology in London with Prof. A. R. Mundy. He was co-Founder of the Instituto de Cirugía Urológica Avanzada (ICUA) in Madrid and a pioneer in Greenlight photoselective vaporisation of the prostate (PVP) for Benign prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and cryosurgical ablation and HIFU for prostate cancer in Spain. Currently, he combines clinical work with academic and teaching activities, actively lecturing and training other doctors worldwide. He recently promoted the creation of the International Greenlight Users Group (IGLU) for the study of Greenlight HPS laser prostatectomy. A detailed registry of his teaching activities can be found at http://drgomezsancha2.blogspot.com
Prof. Antonio Alcaraz

Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Prof. Alcaraz received his medical degree in 1983, followed by his PhD in 1987, both at the University of Barcelona. After 5 years residency in urology at the University Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, he became a member of the Spanish Board of Urology in 1988. He followed a Research Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (USA) in 1993-1994.
He has been Head of the Transplant and Oncology Unit of the Department of Urology at Fundacio Puigvert. Since February 2005, he is Chairman of the Department of Urology at the University Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Currently, he is Professor of Surgery at the University of Barcelona.
He was Chairman of the Transplant Section of the Spanish Association of Urology from 2004 to 2008. At present, he is the General Secretary of the Association.
Prof. Alcaraz’s major research interests include Major Urological-Oncological, Laparoscopic and Transplant Surgery as well as Cancer Genetics.
He is author of 100 international publications and just as much Spanish publications.
He is Member of the Board of the European School of Urology, Professor of the European School of Urology and Member of the Scientific Committee of the European Association of Urology.
Prof. Alcaraz received several Research Grants from the Spanish Government.
Mr. Mark Speakman

Taunton and Somerset hospital, Taunton, United Kingdom
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Mr. Mark J. Speakman was appointed Consultant Urologist in Taunton in early 1990 and has developed a busy practice in the management of benign and malignant prostate disease, incontinence and andrology. He has undertaken research and published papers on smooth muscle physiology, the treatment of prostate and bladder diseases, alternatives to prostatectomy, on research into quality of life assessment and evidence based medicine in urology.

He trained in London, Oxford and Glasgow and completed an MRC research fellowship with Professor Alison Brading and Mr. Joe Smith in Oxford.

Mr. Speakman has been on the editorial board of European Urology and is currently on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Urology. He has been a member of the Council of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) on two occasions and was Honorary Treasurer of the Association (2003-2005). He was clinical director for surgery (1995-2000) and was Associate Medical Director 2004-2009. He has been the Director of Research and Development on two occasions within the Hospital Trust. He is a specialist advisor to the U.K. National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

Surprisingly, for someone who’s also a family man, Mark does have spare time and is a devoted fan of Bolton Wanderers FC. His other passions include tennis and skiing, and he also knows a thing or two about wine!
Atsushi Ochiai M.D Ph.D

Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan