Workstream 2 focuses on functional urogenital conditions requiring highly specialised surgery. The Expertise Areas (EAs) covered by Workstream 2 are: These EAs demand require specific diagnoses and surgical correction. Expertise is crucial to prevent costly and harmful secondary surgeries. Multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) offer life-long care, enhancing post-operative well-being. ERN eUROGEN bridges paediatric and adult care gaps, enhancing outcomes through crossover and workstream transfer from WS1 to WS2. Improved transition ensures lifelong positive outcomes and disease self-management, ensuring continuous care across life stages. Margit Fisch was president of the Society of Genito-Urinary Reconstructive Surgeons (GURS), the European Society of Genito-Urinary Surgeons (ESGURS) and the German Association of Urology (DGU). She is a member of the American Academy of Genito-Urinary Surgeons (AAGUS), the Association of Academic European Urologists (AAEU), the Society of Pelvic Surgeons (SPS), the European Association of Pediatric Urology (ESPU), and the Society of Pediatric Urologic Surgeons (SPUS). She has published over 300 papers and book chapters, with over 90 as first author. She is the organiser of the International Meeting on Reconstructive Urology (IMORU). In 2021, she received the SIU Distinguished Career Award. Finally, in 2017, he completed a fellowship in urethral reconstruction with Prof. Lumen at the University Hospital in Ghent. He did a short replacement of the fellow in functional, reconstructive and neuro-urology under Prof. De Kort and Prof. Bosch at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), where he was appointed Academic Medical Specialist in Urology at the Urology Department of the Division of Surgical Specialties from January 2018. Michel Wyndaele clinically focuses on academic (third line, last resort) Reconstructive, Functional Urology and Neuro-Urology. He has a growing list of peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, co-promotes 2 PhD students, is an editorial board member of the International Urogynaecology Journal (since 2021) and of Continence (since 2024), has set up a dedicated Robotic Reconstructive Urology service at UMCU with the team, and has been a member of the hospital’s medical ethical committee (NedMec) since 2021. He currently is the ERN eUROGEN Vice Expertise Area Coordinator of Expertise Area 2.1 (Complicated and Complex Pelvic Floor disorders) and the ERN eUROGEN Workstream 2 (Functional urogenital conditions requiring highly specialized surgery) Clinical Lead. His special clinical interests are in neuro-urology, male and female incontinence, and reconstructive urology. His major research interests include animal models of stress urinary incontinence, interstitial cells, nerve regeneration and stem cell applications, and clinical data applications. He received his MD in 2001 from the Catholic University of Leuven and his PhD in Medical Sciences in 2007 from the same university. He completed his residency in Urology in 2008 at UZ Gasthuisberg in Leuven. He became a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) in 2010 and a Fellow of the European Board of Sexual Medicine (FECSM) in 2012. He has been a faculty member of the European School of Urology (ESU) since 2009 and chairman of the Video Congress Committee of the European Association of Urology (EAU) Scientific Congress Office since 2019. He is president of the Belgian Working Group, Functional Urology.
Workstream 2: Functional urogenital conditions requiring highly specialised surgery
Leads
Workstream Lead: Margit Fisch
Prof. Margit Fisch is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (F.E.B.U.) and a Fellow of the European Academy of Paediatric Urology (F.E.A.P.U.). Her major scientific interests are reconstructive urology (especially urethral reconstruction and urinary diversion) and paediatric urology. She trained with Prof. Rudolf Hohenfellner and Prof. Joachim Thüroff in Mainz, Germany. In 2000, she moved to AK Harburg in Hamburg and became Director of the Department of Urology and Paediatric Urology two years later. Since 2008, she has been (the first female) Chair of a Urology Department (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) in Germany.Clinical Lead: Michel Wyndaele
Michel Wyndaele graduated summa cum laude as a medical doctor in 2006, successfully defended a PhD on bladder-bowel interactions in 2014 and completed his national Urology certification in 2016 at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. The same year, he obtained the Fellow of the European Board of Urology qualification. Subsequently, he was the senior clinical fellow in female and functional urology under Prof. Hashim, Prof Drake and Prof Abrams at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, UK, for one year.Education Lead: Frank van der Aa
Frank Van der Aa is chair of the Department of Urology at the University Hospitals Leuven and a National MS Center staff member in Melsbroek, both in Belgium. He is also an associate professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven.Research Lead: John Heesakkers
Workstream 2
