Because of the fantastic progress in neuroscience and neurosurgery in the last decades, the fight for saving life has shifted to saving quality of life. Robotic neurosurgery, brain-machine interface, deep brain stimulation, the grafting of stem cells all open new fields and new hopes to cure brain tumors, to repair brain and spinal cord injuries, and to treat neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. All these endeavors, however, need very strict ethical guidelines.

Jacques Brotchi was born in Brussels and has invested his life and career here.

Trained in medicine and then in neurosurgery, he created the Department of Neurosurgery at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels. Until his retirement in 2007, he was also Director of the Laboratory of Experimental Neurosurgery at the Free University of Brussels.

Mr. Brotchi has published more than 350 papers internationally, with special emphasis on brain tumors and nearly intra-spinal cord tumors. His professional achievements are almost too numerous to mention here. He is a member of medical societies around the globe and has received prestigious awards both in Belgium and abroad.

Knighted by King Baudouin in 1988, he was made a Baron by King Albert II in 2007. Mr. Brotchi entered the political arena in 2004. Since then he continues to be a Senator of the Royal Kingdom of Belgium.

Mr. Brotchi and his wife Rachel have one daughter and two grandchildren, who currently live in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

Note: Content and images not intended for copyright infringement.