Toni Lerut, MD, PhD, is emeritus professor of Surgery at and emeritus Chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
He obtained his MD degree and his training in General Surgery at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven Belgium after which he trained as a registrar in Thoracic Surgery to Mr. Ronald Belsey in Bristol , UK 1974-1975. In 1982 he obtained a guest scholarship in the Department of Surgery, University of Chicago (Prof. Dr.D. Skinner,Prof. Dr T. De Meester). These contacts furthered his interest in thoracic and esophageal surgery and thoracic oncology.
In 1991 he initiated the Lung transplantation program, now one of the leading programs in Europe.
Prof Lerut authored or co-authored over 350 scientific articles and more than 100 book chapters and two major textbooks on thoracic surgery. He has been awarded honorary fellowships of several prestigious organisations e.g. AATS,ASA ,ESTS , the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Prof. Lerut has been President of EACTS and ESTS and was the President of the International Society of Diseases of the Esophagus (ISDE) and the European Surgical Association (ESA).
He is the architect behind the creation of the UEMS Section of Thoracic Surgery with recognition of Thoracic surgery as a mono specialty within UEMS ,the European Organization of Specialist Doctors
After retirement from active practice he served as the Sally and Michael Gordon visiting Scholar in the Division of Thoracic Surgery directed by Prof.Dr D.Sugarbaker & Prof Dr. R. Bueno at the Brigham and Womens Hospital,Harvard Medical School, Boston and as a Visiting scholar at Baylor College of Medicine in the Division of Thoracic Surgery directed by Prof D. Sugarbaker
Prof.Dr.Lerut is active in different countries of West Africa being involved in a project related to the treatment of caustic burns in children,an endemic problem in this part of the world.