KRUPP ROBOTIC SYMPOSIUM

Peter Wiklund

New York

Professor Peter Wiklund, MD, PhD, is a Swedish urologic oncologist whose practice includes treating patients with bladder cancer and prostate cancer. He trained at Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden and obtained a PhD in Physiology 1985. Dr. Wiklund continued his residency training at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. He was recruited to Mount Sinai dept. of Urology to serve as director of bladder cancer program and as Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine.

At Karolinska Institutet he started a robotic surgery program at Karolinska University Hospital as one of the first surgeons in the world. The robotic surgery program was for many years the largest robotic surgery program in Europe. During 2003, Dr Wiklund performed the first robot assisted cystectomy with intracorporeal technique and went on to build the first robot assisted surgery program for bladder cancer with intracorporeal urinary diversion.

He has performed more than 4,500 robotic operations and has extensive experience in advanced oncological surgery in patients whose tumor is growing on several pelvic organs (multi-organ tumor, bladder, prostate, colorectal, ovarian, and uterine). Dr. Wiklund has traveled the world as an invited lecturer and has performed live educational surgeries throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. He is chair of the scientific working group of the European Urology Robotic Section of the European Association of Urology (ERUS) and is an international member of the American Urological Association. He has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed publications and 57 review articles and has been the editor and contributing author for multiple textbooks on robot-assisted surgery.

Dr. Wiklund is known as a role model for young investigators and has guided residents, fellows, and junior faculty to successful careers in research and clinical medicine. He organized the successful international fellowship program in robot-assisted surgery at Karolinska University Hospital, where urologists from around the world have trained. 
 

Abofazl Hosseini

Stockholm

Dr. Hosseini is a urologist with interest in pelvic oncology. He was awarded a PhD-degree from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and he is the head of the bladder section for ERUS-scientific working group. He is director of robotic surgery at the urology department at Danderyd University hospital in Stockholm and senior consultant mentor for robotic surgeons at the department of urology, Basel University hospital in Switzerland. Dr. Hosseini is one of the pioneers in robotic surgery in Europe and has one of the largest experiences in the world in totally intracorporeal robot-assisted radical cystectomy.

Shamim Khan

London

Mohammad Shamim Khan is a Professor of Urology and Consultant Urological Surgeon in Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals and King’s College London. He co-pioneered the robotic urological surgery in UK, establishing the first such programme in 2004, launched Pakistan’s inaugural robotic urology service in 2017, led UK robotic training consortium, trained 16 international fellows and mentored surgeons across UK, Europe and Asia in robotic cystectomy and urological reconstruction.  

As Director of Education at BAUS, he implemented major reforms and held multiple prestigious roles including Urology Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC), Joint Committee Higher Surgical Training JCHST,  Examiner FRCS Urol, FCPS (Urol) and Chair Joint Surgical Colleges Fellowship in Urology (2020-2024). He championed national simulation training in urology, co-authored the GMC-approved simulation curriculum, and jointly led the world’s largest surgical simulation trial (SIMULATE). 

With over 500 publications, global lectures, and leadership in seminal trials, his work has a significant influence in shaping practice in Urology. His awards include the OBE (Order of British Empire), Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Civil Award) , Silver Cystoscope, 3-lifetime achievement awards and BAUS St Peter’s Medal, the highest honour in British Urology.  

Frederiek D'Hondt

Aalst

Doctor Frederiek D’Hondt graduated in 2008 from the School of Medicine at the University of Ghent, Belgium. In July 2014, he completed his urologic residency (trained in Urology at the OLV-Clinic in Aalst and at the Urology Department of the Ghent University). In 2014, he did a clinical fellowship in robotic surgery for prostate and bladder cancer at Karolinska University, Stockholm, Sweden. Since January 2015, he is a full staff member at the Urological Department of the AZORG-Clinic in Aalst, Belgium. He is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) since 2014. 

His major interests are urological oncology and robotic surgery, focused on pelvic oncology. He is involved as a trainer for robotic surgery at the ORSI Academy and has proctored the start-up of several robotic centers. He is involved in numerous clinical trials on Prostate/ Bladder Cancer.

Carl Wijburg

Arnhem

After completion of his Master of Medicine at Utrecht University in 2000, Carl Wijburg started his Urological training under supervision of professor Ruud Bosch in 2002 (UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands). During this period, robot assisted surgery was introduced in the field of urology. He learned the first steps of the robot assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) together with Arto Boeken Kruger. In his last year of urological training he followed a fellowship under supervision of professor Alexandre Mottrie (OLV Hospital, Aalst, Belgium), known as the world’s leading pioneer in robot assisted surgery and training of next generation surgeons. 

In 2008 Carl Wijburg started as a consultant urologist in Rijnstate Hospital, Arnhem, the Netherlands, where he and his urogical colleagues started with robot assisted surgery in 2009. In 2010, he got inspired by professor Peter Wiklund (Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA and Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden), known as one of the world’s most experienced pioneers in robot assisted radical cystectomy with the total intracorporeal reconstruction (iRARC). Since 2012 he helped multiple hospitals in the Netherlands, Belgium and in the United Kingdom with the start of their robot assisted surgery programs (RARP and iRARC). 

In 2014 Carl Wijburg and professor Maroeska Rovers started the first design of nationwide Radical Cystectomy comparative effectiveness study (RACE) comparative trial of robot assisted radical cystectomy versus open radical cystectomy. Since 2021 he is member of the board of the Robotic Urology Section of the European Association of Urology (ERUS). With his colleagues, he trains residents and fellows in Rijnstate Hospital, which is an ERUS-certified host-centre for RARP. 

Erdem Canda

Koç University Hospital
Department of Urology
Director RMK AIMES (Rahmi M. Koç Academy of Interventional Medicine, Education and Simulation)
Istanbul 

Professor A. Erdem Canda has been performing robotic urology since 2009 and has an experience and exposure of more than 2000 cases with Intuitive Da Vinci S, Si, x, xi and recently with Single Port. Since April 2025, he has also been using Medtronic Hugo RAS.

He is a past ERUS Board member, served as a trainer in many courses at RMK AIMES (Istanbul), ORSI Academy (Belgium) and during many international & national congresses, symposiums and courses including the EAU. He trained the first and second fellows on RARP in Turkey via cc-ERUS. He received many awards during ERUS Congresses.

Professor Canda is an ERUS scientific working group member and has co-authored many papers including ERUS and IRCC (International Robotic Cystectomy Consortium) studies. He is in the editorial board member of European Urology, British Journal of Urology Compass, Robotic Surgery: Research and Reviews, Central European Journal of Urology. He is a member of ERUS, EAU, AUA, SIU, Endourological Society and BAUS. He is a founding member of IURES and SERUS.

Professor Canda is a part of an ERASMUS European Union project (Turkey, France, Italy, South Korea, Belgium) on European Robotic Technology – Based Training Curriculum in Health Sciences funded to develop training models and simulators for robotic training.

He is a dog lover and playing golf, accordion, piano and harmonica are his hobbies. 

Andrea Minervi

Florence

Andrea Minervini MD PhD. He attended the University of Pisa Medical School where he received his Medical Degree in 1999 and then completed his specialization in Urology in 2004. Winner of the Italian Matula Award in 2013. President of the Italian Group for Advanced Laparo-Endoscopic Surgery (AGILE) between 2018-2020. Full Professor of Urology at the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Italy. Director of the urologic robotic program at the Careggi Hospital, Florence. Director of the training program of Urology and the University of  Florence. Head of the Urology unit (Unit of Oncologic Minimally-Invasive Urology and Andrology) at Careggi Hospital, Florence (Italy). Associate Member of the European Association of Research and Treatment on Cancer (EORTC) Genito Urinary Group Group; ESU (European School of Urology) and ERUS  (EAU Robotic Urology Section) Board Member. 

The clinical and scientific interests include urological oncology and its minimally invasive laparocopic and robotic management, andrology, minimally invasive treatment of pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence as well as urological endometriosis. More than 40 live surgeries in national and international meeting. More than 4000 procedures conducted as first operator including >2000 Laparoscopic/Robotics procedures. Author of more than 350 publications on indexed peer reviewed journals. 

Johannes Huber

Heidelberg

Professor Johannes Huber, MD, PhD (Heidelberg) is Medical Director of the Department of Urology at Heidelberg University Hospital and holds a W3 professorship in Urology at Heidelberg University.

After studying medicine and philosophy in Munich and obtaining his doctorate in both fields, he worked as a scientist and physician at the Department of Urology at Heidelberg University Hospital from 2006 to 2012. After completing his specialist training in urology and a research stay at the University of Zurich funded by German Cancer Aid, he moved to Dresden University Hospital. In 2022, he accepted the W3 professorship in Urology at the University of Marburg and headed the Marburg University Urology Clinic for three years. Moreover, Johannes Huber studied business administration at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He is married and has two children.

His focus is on complex urological surgery – open, laparoscopic, endoscopic or robotic, depending on the individual situation. His clinic also offers the entire range of conservative urology, with drug-based cancer treatment carried out in cooperation with the NCT Heidelberg. The Heidelberg urology team also works in all these fields in research and teaching, with the spectrum ranging from basic research in Prof. Duensing's laboratory to imaging and AI in collaboration with the DKFZ to healthcare research and patient orientation. The common goal of the Heidelberg Urology team is to bring these areas of urological research together as intensively as possible and make them fruitfully usable for patients.

Burkhard Ubrig

Bochum

Prof. Dr. Burkhard Ubrig, FEBU, is Chief Physician of the Department of Urology at the Augusta Clinics in Bochum and a board-certified urologist. He has headed the urology department since December 2008, having previously served as Senior Consultant at the Dortmund Hospital and the HELIOS Clinic Wuppertal. He began his urological training after completing his medical studies at the University of Münster, followed by positions at Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Witten/Herdecke, where he received his habilitation (Venia Legendi) in urology in 2005 and was appointed adjunct professor in 2019.

He holds additional qualifications in special urological surgery, medical tumor therapy, andrology, and urological radiology, and is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU). A particular focus of his work is laparoscopic and robot-assisted urology, the development of which he has significantly shaped since 2002. He has represented the German Society for Robot-Assisted Urology (DGRU) and its congress as President of the DGRU. Furthermore, he is actively involved in professional politics, for example as former Secretary General and President of the North Rhine-Westphalia Society of Urology, and is a member of numerous national and international professional societies.

In addition to his clinical and professional activities, Professor Ubrig is closely involved with the university, including as a member of the doctoral committee at the University of Witten/Herdecke. He also serves as editor of the "Surgical Tips and Tricks" section of the journal "Aktuelle Urologie," thus contributing to the dissemination of practical surgical expertise in urology.

Bojidar Kassabov

Vienna

Dr. Bojidar Kassabov is a highly skilled urologist specializing in robot-assisted surgery with the Da Vinci system. He completed his medical studies at the Medical University of Vienna in 2005 and went on to complete his specialist training in urology and oncology at Alfried Krupp Hospital in Essen, Germany, with a focus on robotic surgery of the urogenital tract. In 2013, he became a board-certified urologist and began practicing at the Barmherzige Brüder Hospital in Vienna, where he later became senior physician in 2015.

Dr. Kassabov has extensive training in advanced robotic procedures, including partial nephrectomy and complex urinary reconstructions, having attended leading programs in Strasbourg, France, and Ghent, Belgium. He is a member of the European Association of Urology (EAU) and its Robotic Urology Section, as well as the Austrian Society for Urology, reflecting his active engagement in the global urology community.

Throughout his career, Dr. Kassabov has been recognized for his surgical excellence, earning multiple awards for innovative robotic techniques and educational surgical videos presented at international conferences. His work emphasizes precision, minimally invasive techniques, and improving patient outcomes in the treatment of urologic cancers and complex urinary conditions.

Edward Lambert

Aalst

Since 2023, doctor Edward Lambert works as an urologist in the OLV hospital which is active in the Aalst, Asse and Ninove region in Belgium.
After graduating as a M.Sc. in Medical Science at Ghent University in 2016 he specialized further in urological surgery leading to an PhD-Certificate in 2026 for which he conducted research on metastatic prostate cancer and robot-assisted prostate surgery.

In 2022 he did a one-year clinical fellowship at the department of urology of the Hôpital Pitié-Salpétriêre in Paris (France) to even deepen his expertise in robotic surgery and urologic oncology. Edward Lambert is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) and associate member of the Young Academic Urologists section of the European Association of Urology (EAU).

Dr. Lambert's personal interests lie primarily in urological oncology, minimally invasive (laser) surgery and robotic surgery. He is publishing regularly on these topics in renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

Stephan Buse

Essen

Stephan Buse studied in Düsseldorf and New York, beginning his urological training in St. Gallen. He completed a surgical year at the University Hospital Zurich under Professor Clavien, where he first encountered the Da Vinci system in 2003. He then moved to the University Hospital Heidelberg, becoming a urological specialist and senior physician, where he helped establish the Da Vinci Program. 

Stephan Buse has been a Da Vinci surgeon since 2005, performing over 5000 operations. Since 2009, he has worked as a Da Vinci proctor and trainer, and as a course leader for Intuitive and others at IRCAD in Strasbourg and ORSI in Ghent and various training centers in Europe. He has been the chief physician at the Alfried Krupp Hospital since 2009, deputy medical director since 2012, and medical director of the Krupp Hospital Group since 2022. He first launched the Krupp Robotioc Symposium 10 years ago.

His scientific interests include bladder carcinoma, robotics, and minimally invasive surgical techniques. He holds German and Swiss citizenship.