Opportunity for Life: The Link | Dirk Timmerman, M.D., Ph.D.

Dirk Timmerman, M.D., Ph.D.

Dirk Timmerman, M.D., Ph.D.

		Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University Hospital KU Leuven Leuven, Belgium

Dirk Timmerman, M.D., Ph.D, FRCOG, is an inspiration in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, having been a founder and coordinator of the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis collaborative group as well the International Endometrial Tumor Analysis collaborative group, not to mention an avid educator, sharing his vast knowledge with future generations.

Dr. Timmerman received his doctorate in medicine from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leuven (known commonly as KU Leuven) in 1989 and, in 1997, his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences when he defended his doctoral thesis titled “Ultrasonography in the Assessment of Ovarian and Tamoxifen-Associated Endometrial Pathology.”

Remaining with KU Leuven, Dr. Timmerman has served as a specialist and consultant in obstetrics and gynecology since 1994 and is now a full professor in obstetrics and gynecology as well as the clinical head of University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. Since 1994, he has also been a senior clinical investigator of the Scientific Research Fund–Flanders.

In addition to that, Dr. Timmerman has contributed to the university as a member of the Medical Council of UZ Leuven (since 2008), including serving as vice chair from 2014 to 2017 and chair from 2017 to 2020, as well as being a member of the Financial Committee and Supervision Committee (2008–2017) and chairman of the Clinical Research Fund of the University Hospitals Leuven (2010–2015).

His contributions to the field have reached an even wider audience with his involvement in scientific societies, including the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). In 2003, 2011, and 2014, he was elected as a board member of ISUOG as well as a member of the ISUOG Scientific Committee (2013–2016) for which he was elected as vice chair in 2015 and chair (2016–2018). Dr. Timmerman has also been an editor as well as served on the editorial board for ISUOG’s Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. At RCOG, the council approved his nomination to the Obstetrician & Gynaecologist International Advisory Board in 2012; he served as an associate editor from 2013 to 2017; and in 2014, he was elected as president of the Flanders Ultrasound Society.

Dr. Timmerman has also published more than 460 scientific journal articles, 450 conference articles, and 3 books, has been a member of numerous Ph.D. juries (in Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), has been invited as a speaker at more than 150 international conferences, is a reviewer for about 25 international journals, and has earned the Good Clinical Practice certificate.

All of Dr. Timmerman’s accomplishments have led to multiple awards in appreciation of that work. In 2003, he was awarded the Dr. J. Daels Prize for contribution to the health of mother and child for his work in “Predictieve Modellen Voor de Vroegtijdige Diagnose van Ectopische Zwangerschap,” (English translation: “Predictive Models for the Early Diagnosis of Ectopic Pregnancy”; Verhandelingen–Koninklijke Academie Voor Geneeskunde van België). In 2014, Dr. Timmerman was awarded the InBev Baillet-Latour Prize for Clinical Research at the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels as well as a fellowship ad eundem from RCOG. Then, in 2016, he received the prestigious William J. Fry Memorial Lecture Award from the AIUM. Dr. Timmerman has now also earned the AIUM’s 2021 Honorary Fellow Award.

Events with Dr. Timmerman


08 August 2025 6:15 PM BTT/BST	Hoppenot, Claire M.D. Reiter, Daniel J. D.O. Sunde, Jan S. M.D. Timmerman, Dirk M.D., Ph.D.	Ovarian Cancer: Early Detection International Lecture Series