Abraham Fingerhut
France

- Chief of Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal
- Professor of Chief of Surgical Gastroenterology Department, Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal
- Professor of Visceral and Digestive Surgical Unit Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal
- President of European Association of Endoscopic Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal, Poissy, France

Diplomas and Hospital and Academic Positions

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, November 12, 1939, Abe Fingerhut graduated from Highland Park High School, Highland Park, New Jersey, USA, in 1957. He was a member of the varsity track and field, and basketball teams who both won Middlesex county titles in 1956-7. He attended the “College” of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia from 1957, and obtained his BA degree in Organic Chemistry in June 1961. In 1961, he decided to attend Medical School in Paris. He pursued his residency, and obtained his MD from the University of Paris with honors in 1975. Appointed Assistant Surgeon at the Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal in 1975, he rose to full time staff surgeon (Praticien Hospitalier) in 1979 and was appointed Chief of Service in 1987, position he held until March 2006. He remained on the staff until January 2007 but continued his clinical practice in North Africa. He was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the Louisiana State University in New Orleans in 1993, Professor of the College des Medecins des Hopitaux de Paris in 2000, and visiting professor in the University of Athens in 2009, position he holds at the present time.

As a Surgeon

His major fields of surgery have focused on trauma and digestive surgery with a particular interest in hernia repair, gastro-esophageal and hepatobiliopancreatic surgery. He is an enthusiastic proponent of the laparoscopic approach to gastro-esophageal, biliary, and colorectal surgery as well as for emergency surgery of practically all acute diseases.

As an Author and Editor/Reviewer

He is the author of or has co-signed more than 400 articles or book chapters in peer-reviewed journals and major textbooks, and has participated in more than 890 National and International meetings as speaker, chairman, or organizer. As assistant secretary of the French Association for Clinical Research, he has been involved in and responsible for the publication of more than 100 controlled or prospective trials run in France in the last 21 years. Most of these trials have been published in major international peer review journals.

He holds or has held several positions on editorial boards of major journals including Gastro-enterologie Clinique et Biologique, World Journal of Surgery (European co-editor), American Journal of Surgery (now senior member of the board), European Journal of Surgery (now part of British Journal of Surgery), Journal of Trauma, European Journal of Emergency Surgery and Intensive Care, British Journal of Surgery, Surgical Endoscopy, Indian Journal of Minimal Access Surgery, the Asian Journal of Surgery, Cochrane Library (Co-Editor of the Hepatobiliary section), ad hoc reviewer for Annal of Surgery, Archives of Surgery, Journal of American College of Surgeons, Lancet, and Journal of Surgery (Paris).

As a Teacher

Academically, he taught Anatomy at the Faculte de Medecine Paris-Ouest starting in 1971, and became a Research Fellow in 1973. He was a clinical teaching assistant from 1976-1981.

His interest in evidence-based medicine (EBM) stems from the above mentioned Clinical research. He teaches EBM regularly worldwide and in particular, in the Universities of Singapore, Tunis, Milan, Shanghai and in France.

At the present time, he teaches within the College of General and Digestive Surgeons in France and is one of the scientific and program committee directors of several of the Post graduate education courses which take place annually.

In connection with the EAES (European Association for Endoscopic Surgery), he teaches on a regular basis in Dundee (Cushieri Skills center), in Hamburg (European Surgical Institute), in Elancourt (Covidien Center of Excellence) and in Athens (Faculty of Medicine).

He has been active in teaching medical writing for over 20 years. He teaches medical writing in French and in English on a regular basis (nearly monthly) for the last 18 years.

He has organized and conducted several courses on medical writing, notably for the Swiss Surgical Society, for the Tunisian Surgical Society, in Greece (EAES meeting), the Netherlands, Liechtenstein (University of Liechtenstein), Canada (Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto), University of Milan, and Turkey (Turkish Trauma Society), Adelaide (during the ISS/SIC meeting), University of Mumbai, India, University of Chenai, India, University of Seoul, University of Kuweit, and how to give a talk in Bejing, Shanghai, 2010 and 2011 and Belgrade, 2013.

He was one of the founders of the Definitive Surgery Trauma Care (DSTC) courses of the International Association for Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care (IATSIC): as such, has played and still has an active role in the organization of worldwide courses. He is the founder of the European Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ESTES) affiliated course on emergency surgery, the Emergency Surgery Course (ESC-ESTES), taught mostly in Europe until now but soon worldwide.

Affiliations and Member of Scientific Associations, Colleges, and Committee Work

He was elected President of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES)in June 2009 to June 2011. As such, and as the past Chairman of Scientific, Educational and Program Committee, he has a major role in the teaching courses run by the EAES on laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery throughout Europe, stressing EBM whenever possible. The programs of the EAES meetings have been under his responsibility during the last 8 years. Under his guidance, the EAES is currently a leader in the creation of the European based curriculum in laparoscopic surgery.

As a founding member and past president of the International Association for Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care (IATSIC), he has played and still has a leading role in the organization of worldwide courses on “Definitive Trauma Care”: he is a co-author of the official manual.

He is one of the founding members and was president of the European Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ESTES) May 2010-11. Emergency surgery courses have been founded, and a manual is on its way (editor in chief).

He is member of several other national and international surgical associations including the Association Francaise de Chirurgie, Association de Recherche Chirurgicale (presently called FRENCH), Societe Internationale de Chirurgie (past member of the executive and program committees), Surgical Association for Clinical Research in Europe (SACRE) (Founding Member and Secretary), European Digestive Surgery (President 2001), Society of American Gastroenterology Surgery (SAGES) (currently member of the International Committee and the Program Committee).

He was a founding Member and past member of Council of the European Surgical Association, and honorary member of the American Surgical Association (2012). He is Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (past member of the International Committee of American College of Surgeons), and Governor-at-Large representing the ACS Fellows of France (2012-2015).

Fellow of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma AAST, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburg.

He is member of the committee on OR safety set up in Geneva within the World Health Organization.

He sits on several Data and Safety Monitoring Boards for clinical trials.

In 1995, as the team doctor, but also as a climber, he accompanied a French expedition to the Himalayas (Barumsee). His hobbies included mountain climbing and mountaineering ski.

Doctor Fingerhut is married to Marie-Christine and has one daughter and one son.