Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows

Born in South Africa on 12 September 1954, Jan Jouke van Wingerden studied medicine at the University of Pretoria and at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. He travelled widely to extend his skills in his specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery, becoming a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of the College of Surgeons of South Africa. From 1990 to 2003 he ran a private practice in Pretoria and the following year moved to Holland. He worked as a consultant plastic surgeon at the Medical Centre in Leeuwarden from 2004 to 2008 and then joined the staff of the Amsterdam Medical Centre, Amsterdam University. Later he also worked at the Rozendaal Clinic in Gelderland. Amsterdam University awarded him a doctorate in philosophy. Passionate about improving the quality of life of children with congenital and acquired deformities, he also treated adults affected by cancer or trauma and those with afflictions of the hand and other aesthetic concerns. His mission was to improve the quality of patients’ lives regardless of economic and international boundaries. He was past president of the South African Society for Surgery of the Hand from 2001 to 2003 and served for many years on the executive committee of the Association of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons of Southern Africa. He was awarded the FRCS *ad eundem* in 2021, the year in which he died.