Head of Vitreoretinal Department
Sint Augustinus Hospital
Antwerp, Belgium
Dr. Claes was born and educated in Belgium. He completed fellowships in vitreoretinal surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Retina Foundation in Boston as well as at the Eye Hospital Rotterdam, where he worked under the supervision of Dr. Relja Zivojnovic, a pioneer in vitreoretinal surgery.
In 1989, Dr. Claes established a new vitreoretinal department at Middelheim Hospital, treating hundreds of patients, referred from all over Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and beyond. During this time, he worked closely with Dr. Zivojnovic.
In 1997, Dr. Claes became the head of Vitreoretinal Department at AZ Middelheim, a position he held until 2005 when he moved to St. Augustinus Hospital to start a new vitreoretinal department. There he continued to operate and treat international patients with advanced diseases. He is currently the head of this department.
Dr. Claes is the founder and organizer of the Advanced Vitreoretinal Course, held every 2 years in Antwerp and hosting up to 300 participants from over 30 different countries. Numerous fellows and observers have been trained in his department.
Dr. Claes has presented over 400 guest lectures in conferences on five continents. He has performed live surgery demonstrations during ophthalmology meetings and has written book chapters and published numerous articles in scientific journals. Currently, he is a reviewer for the Retina Journal.
He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Club Jules Gonin, the European Vitreoretinal Society, the European Retina Society and Société Belge d'Ophtalmologie. He is part of the Advisory Board of the Schepens International Society and the faculty at the European School for Advanced Studies in Ophthalmology in Lugano, Switzerland.
In collaboration with various medical manufacturers, he has devised many new surgical instruments, equipment, and techniques, contributing to the development of modern vitreoretinal surgery. For this work, he has received many internationals awards, such as the Belgische Selectie Award (1985), an American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award (2001), the Junior Honor Award at the Greek Vitreo-Retinal Society (2010), and the Nataraja Pillai Oration Award (2011).
Dr. Claes practises in Antwerp and has an international reputation for surgery of complicated retinal detachments, trauma, retinopathy of prematurity, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, macular translocations, pigment epithelial transplantations, and pediatric cases. He performs 1000 surgical interventions a year with over 50% of his patients coming from abroad.