Minimalization of immunosuppression in liver transplantation: steps from 'how' to 'now'.

From the very start of his surgical career, Jan Lerut was involved in organ transplantation. This interest resulted in transplantation fellowships at the University Paris-Sud - Centre Hépatobiliaire under the lead of Professor Bismuth and at the Pittsburgh Medical Center under the lead of Professor Starzl. He was director of the abdominal transplant program at the Inselspital University of Bern from 1987 to 1991. Currently, he is Professor of Surgery, Director of the Starzl Abdominal Transplant Unit of the University Hospitals Saint Luc of the Université Catholique de Louvain and director of the Université Catholique de Louvain Transplant Center in Brussels. He is also director of the department of Abdominal and Transplantation Surgery at the same university. He has served as president of the Belgian Society of Transplantation, chairman of the Eurotransplant Liver Allocation Committee and president of the European Society for Organ Transplantation. Under his presidency over the Eurotransplant Liver Allocation Committee, the Model for End stage Liver Disease system was introduced. His presidency at the European Society for Organ Transplantation was devoted to the broadening of the European transplant community and to the development of a master educational program in the field of transplantation. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles, authored 24 book chapters and 24 scientific films. His research interests focus on the development of technical refinements in liver transplantation and on the use of minimal immunosuppression and tolerance induction in liver transplantation.