mult. Sjaak Pouwels1,2, Jin Ye Yeo3
1Department of Surgery, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of Ruhr University Bochum, Herne, NRW, Germany; 2Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Elisabeth – Tweesteden Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands; 3ALES Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company
Correspondence to: Jin Ye Yeo. ALES Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company. Email: ales@amegroups.com
This interview can be cited as: Pouwels S, Yeo JY. Meeting the Editorial Board Member of ALES: Dr. mult. Sjaak Pouwels. Ann Laparosc Endosc Surg. 2024. Available from: https://ales.amegroups.org/post/view/meeting-the-editorial-board-member-of-ales-dr-mult-sjaak-pouwels.
Expert introduction
Dr. mult. Sjaak Pouwels (Figure 1) is a surgeon in training at the Marien Hospital in Herne, Germany. He started his career in Eindhoven, the Netherlands where he did his first PhD and developed a keen interest in physiology in obesity and the influence of bariatric and metabolic surgery. This PhD thesis was completed and defended at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands in 2017. Parallel to this research, he did a second PhD on Laterality Influences in Patients with a Peripheral Facial Palsies. This PhD thesis was completed and defended at the Ghent University in Ghent in Belgium in 2023.
Over the years, he worked in several surgical and ICU departments in the Netherlands, before starting his surgical training in Germany. He has extensive research experience in areas like obesity treatment, bariatric and metabolic surgery, Intensive Care Medicine, OR logistics and surgical oncology. He currently has two PhDs, more than 190 published articles in peer-reviewed journals and has given more than 75 national and international presentations.
Figure 1 Dr. mult. Sjaak Pouwels
Interview
ALES: What developed your interest in the physiology of obesity, and subsequently in bariatric and metabolic surgery?
Dr. Pouwels: Actually, I have a funny story to share about how I ended up in this research field. During my third year of medical school, I wanted to do some research and I eventually ended up at the Vascular Surgery Department in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. After I had completed a few review projects and also published them, I asked the professor whether I could pursue a PhD under his guidance preferably in Vascular Surgery. At the time, there was no funding for such a PhD and I ended up doing some database studies on pulmonary function measurements before and after bariatric surgery. That was not very interesting, but I still continued and in 2015 I went to my second international conference in Philadelphia in the USA. That is where I met a metabolic surgeon, Prof. Alper Celik, from Istanbul Turkey who held a very inspiring presentation on the physiological principles of surgeries like the transit bipartition and ileal interposition. At the conference dinner, we were sitting at the same table and we started talking. We became friends and he really ignited my international scientific career by introducing me to almost everyone he knew. And now after almost ten years, we are still friends and I still remember him and that conference and how that spiked my interest in bariatric and metabolic surgery and all related topics.
ALES: How has your experience in intensive Care Medicine informed your approach to surgical practice and patient care?
Dr. Pouwels: I had two periods in my career that I worked in Intensive Care Medicine. The first period was at the beginning of my career, right after finishing my research ‘fellowship’ in Eindhoven. At the beginning of 2016, I started my clinical career as a resident in the Intensive Care Department at the same hospital. This was a tremendous challenge as I had so much to figure out at the beginning of my career: What kind of doctor do I want to be, all the clinical aspects, working in a team, were just some of the things I had to figure out. To do so in one of the most challenging environments like the Intensive Care Unit was an interesting but also difficult experience. The second period I worked in the ICU was during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was also a life-changing experience. At the time, I worked in Tilburg in the Netherlands, which is a high-volume ICU, and one of the first ICUs in the Netherlands with COVID patients. I worked the complete duration of the pandemic in the ICU (approximately 2.5 years) and during this time I gained so much experience in and also outside of the hospital.
ALES: What are some aspects of operating room (OR) logistics that you think are critical for improving surgical efficiency and patient outcomes?
Dr. Pouwels: I think a lot of people forget that OR logistics and planning is a specialty of its own. This is something I have learned from a former colleague and friend, Dr. Pieter Stepaniak. We actually wrote a few papers on the topic (1-4).
ALES: Could you share your current perspective on robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery? How has it influenced patient outcomes, and what future promise do they bring?
Dr. Pouwels: This is a very interesting question, since we are on the change in the landscape of surgical technology. Currently I think that in complex revisional cases, a robotic surgeon brings multiple advantages for both patients and surgeons. For patients, there are fewer complications and faster recovery times, and for surgeons, it is a better way to operate with more ‘technical ease’ than laparoscopy. However, we do have to take into account that we are not there yet. Technological developments of robotic platforms in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) developments will shape the future of surgical care. I am very excited about what the future has in store for us.
ALES: With the development of AI, what prospect does it bring to the treatment of obesity?
Dr. Pouwels: AI is another field that is developing at a rapid pace. For the treatment of patients with obesity, I hope that AI will help us understand which ‘metabolic profile’ and therefore which patient will benefit the most from a certain treatment. In other words, hopefully it can help us clinicians and surgeons select and optimize treatments for our patients.
ALES: In your opinion, are there any aspects of metabolic and bariatric surgery research that have received insufficient attention?
Dr. Pouwels: Yes there are many of them. One of the most important ones is the cardiovascular and pulmonary benefits of bariatric and metabolic surgery. There is impressive research that bariatric surgery improves asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but also can be beneficial in patients with end-stage organ failure (like heart failure). Secondly, I am involved in several projects on lipedema and obesity. There is an increasing number of patients that have both diseases, which are difficult to diagnose and also treat. Hence, there is a lot of work for us to do in the next few years.
ALES: What are some of the current projects you are involved in, and what impact do you hope they will have on the field?
Dr. Pouwels: As stated in the previous question one of my main interests is improving care for patients with both obesity and lipedema. Besides those, I am involved in a lot of projects, too many to mention them all. If colleagues are interested in collaborating with me on projects, they are always free to email me (sjaakpwls@gmail.com).
ALES: As an Editorial Board Member, what are your expectations and aspirations for ALES?
Dr. Pouwels: As a relatively new journal, I hope that ALES will find its place in between the existent surgical journals. One major objective should be to get it listed in PubMed Central since that will attract more authors and more submissions. Developing workshops, webinars and presence at international conferences will also grow the journal and I would be happy to contribute in every way I can.
Reference
- Stepaniak PS, Pouwels S. Covid-19: The Need for Modelling the Unexpected. Rapid response to: Prediction models for diagnosis and prognosis of covid-19: systematic review and critical appraisal. BMJ 2020; 369.
- Stepaniak PS, Pouwels S. Balancing Demand and Supply in the Operating Room: a study for the Cardiothoracic Department in a large Teaching Hospital. J Clin Anesth 2017; 42:7-8.
- Debats CEJM, Dellaert NP, Pouwels S, Stepaniak PS. Balancing Workload in the PACU by using an integrated OR Planning Methodology. J Perianesth Nurs 2021;S1089-9472(20)30283-5.
- Debats CEJM, Dellaert NP, Pouwels S, Stepaniak PS. Response to the letter of Dr Dexter. J Perianesth Nurs 2022; 37(3):297.