Hence JM Verhagen graduated from medical school in 1992 (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) after which he did three years of basic research at the Laboratory of Haematology/Vascular Surgery at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He successfully defended his PhD-thesis on Cell seeding on Vascular Grafts in 1996. He started his surgical training in the same year for which he did several rotations in different hospitals in The Netherlands, Zimbabwe and the UK. The major part of his vascular fellowship was done at the department of Vascular Surgery at The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia, where he developed his special interest in minimal-invasive endovascular therapies and endovascular aneurysm treatment in particular. In 2002, he accepted a position as Associate Professor in Vascular Surgery at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands and practised there for several years. In 2007 he was appointed as Professor, Chief and trainer of Vascular Surgery at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
As an early adapter of advanced endovascular therapies, he managed to become an internationally renowned expert in this field. He has organized many basic-, and advanced international training courses on EVAR and TEVAR and is the founder of the Dutch practical course (basic and advanced) on peripheral percutaneous vascular interventions for Vascular Surgeons in which he still participates as convenor. He has performed several ?first in Man? implantations of aortic endografts and is global Principal Investigator (PI) of several Aortic Stent grafts
Professor Hence Verhagen has a special interest in Aortic pathology and interventions, including cutting-edge endovascular technologies, in which he has extensive experience. Furthermore, his specific expertise includes: Carotid surgery, chronic bowel ischaemia, peripheral interventions and vascular imaging (dynamic, peri-operative and post-processing). He is president of the Dutch Society for Vascular Surgery as well as President-elect of the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS), co-founder of the Cardiovascular Center Erasmus MC, board member of the Erasmus Trust fund, consultant/scientific advisor for several American medical device companies, past president of the society for surgeons in training, has more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, is member of many international vascular societies, reviewer for a variety of international scientific journals, faculty member for numerous international congresses, and has given hundreds of scientific lectures at international conferences including many keynote presentations. After being actively involved in a variety of committees within his own hospital he now expands his managerial skills by following the on-site Executive Educational course ?Managing Health Care Delivery? at the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.