On 25th July 2025 our valued, respected and loved colleague and friend professor Hans Jeekel passed away at 84 years of age (Figure 1). Hans Jeekel made a great impact on the careers and lives of many colleagues and patients with his inexhaustible and contagious efforts on improving patient outcomes by research and education. It was a privilege of knowing and working with him.
FIGURE 1
Professor Hans Jeekel (1941–2025).
Over a remarkable career spanning more than 50 years, he has initiated and served as co-chairman of the Rotterdam Repair Group at Erasmus University with Professor Johan Lange, sr. and Professor Gert-Jan Kleinrensink, where he spearheaded and supported over 100 research projects. His efforts have resulted in more than 80 doctoral theses and over 500 publications. Many young researchers are indepted to him for a passionate and complete commitment to make them successful surgeons and scientists. At European Hernia Society congress 2025 in Paris, France Professor Hans Jeekel was awarded the prestigious EHS Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to improving the welfare of patients with abdominal wall hernias.
Through a multitude of randomized controlled trials, Professor Jeekel’s work has profoundly influenced clinical guidelines on the treatment of various abdominal wall hernia types, including incisional hernias (mesh versus no mesh), umbilical hernias (mesh versus primary closure), and inguinal hernias (watchful waiting versus surgery). His research has also advanced understanding of optimal surgical techniques, biomechanical principles, and closure methods. By his efforts he greatly helped the emancipation process of abdominal wall surgery to become a full academic discipline.
He had also a profound interest in music and was a gifted pianoplayer. Although retired, in 2012 he founded a new research group: Music as Medicine at ErasmusMC. He had a vision to implement music in general healthcare. With his enthusiasm and dedication he created a very productive research team and scientifically proved that music decreases pain, anxiety, opioid use and delirium around operations, which led to an official recommendation in the Dutch guideline for peri-operative care in 2023.
Professor Jeekel’s passionate presentations at international meetings and his ability to inspire and mentor young surgeons have left an indelible mark on the field. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Hans Jeekel is celebrated for his open-mindedness, charm, graciousness, and talent as both a musician and a dancer, which many have enjoyed during hernia society gatherings around the globe.
He will be greatly missed.
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Summary
Keywords
research, quality of life, guidelines, hernia, musicology, surgery
Citation
Deerenberg EB, Simons MP and Lange JF (2025) In Memory of Professor Hans Jeekel. J. Abdom. Wall Surg. 4:15514. doi: 10.3389/jaws.2025.15514
Received
30 August 2025
Accepted
23 September 2025
Published
07 October 2025
Volume
4 - 2025
Updates
Copyright
© 2025 Deerenberg, Simons and Lange.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Eva B. Deerenberg, e.deerenberg@franciscus.nl
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.