Honorary Members

Paul L Tessier was a giant in the medical community, creating a new surgical specialty and helping many who had severe facial deformities that had previously been untreatable. Tessier’s contribution to EACMFS was enormous and a legacy passed on to future generations of cranio-maxillo-facial surgeons.

Karl Schuchardt dedicated his early career to the military hospital in Berlin where he wrote a monograph on ‘The tube pedicle flap in reconstructive surgery of the maxillo-facial area’ which established his fame. He was responsible for the rehabilitation of almost a thousand patients with war injuries with many surgical procedures in OMFS forever linked with Schuchardt name.

Hugo Obwegeser was one of the most influential figures in OMFS. He was the soul and the engine of the Association from its foundation in 1970. During the war he studied medicine in Innsbruck and Freiburg but was called up to the Army and despatched to the front where he served as a medical orderly in Norway. Following the war he went to Vienna to find a training job at the Institute of Pathology of the University of Vienna under the famous Hermann V Chiari and eventually secured a position. By chance he later came across Richard Trauner who offered him a paid position as an assistant at Trauner’s Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and the possibility to simultaneously gain his dental qualification. He subsequently went on to become Chief of the Department of Maxillo-Facial Surgery in Zurich and in 1970, was promoted to Full Professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich which became one or the most prestigious maxillo-facial departments worldwide. His main emphases were orthognathic surgery, pre-prosthetic surgery, secondary cleft care and the temporomandibular joint. He was one of the first surgeons to stress the significance of disc pathology in TMJ complaints and wrote in later years that secondary correction of craniofacial cleft deformities represented his most signifcant successes. He served as the First Editor of the Journal and Founding President of the EAMFS. He published one hundred plus articles, lectured worldwide and is considered one of the most influential oral and maxillofacial surgeons to date.

President, EAMFS, London, UK 1976
Norman Rowe served in the Royal Army Dental Corps following which he showed his flair for meticulous organisation with the development of oral surgical departments in many hospitals including Queen Mary’s Roehampton which later became the mecca for maxillofacial surgeons. His epic textbook “Fractures of the Facial Skeleton“ was followed by second edition “Maxillofacial Injuries“. He served as Honorary Secretary for the British Assocation of Oral Surgeons (BAOMS, Councillor and Secretary General to the International Association of Oral Surgeons (IAOS) and presided over the 3rd Congress of EAMFS in London

Wolfgang Koberg studied in Freiburg until 1983 and was subsequently appointed as Chair, Clinic for Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine in Aachen He played a large role in the establishment of the Association and served as the EAMFS Secretary from its inception in 1970 until 1986.

President, Innsbruck, Austria 1992
Rudolf Fries was the founder and cofounder of numerous national and international societies and made a massive contribution to the development of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. He was given many scientific awards and honorary memberships. For many years he was the Head of the Oral Cavity Cancer Research Group. He had a major impact on the promotion and development of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the Eastern European countries and invested tireless energy in the harmonisation of training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery globally. He was elected as President in 1990 and the 11th Congress of EACMFS was held in Innsbruck in 1992.

President, Brussels, Belgium 1990
Robert Peiffer dedicated his life to buiding the specialty through Europe. As General Secretary of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) he obtained the official legal recognition of the Stomatology and Maxillo-Facial Surgery as a mono-specialist section in the European Union Doctor’s Directives in 1989. Simultaneously he worked towards mutual recognition of different specialties in European countries, harmonisation of training as well as helping to establish the European Boards. He was elected President of EACMFS and held the 10th Congess in 1990 in Brussels with 1,250 participants.

Hans-Peter Freihofer trained with both Tessier and Obwegeser. He was the Editor in Chief of the Journal for 12 years. His main areas of interest were peri-orbital and secondary cleft lip and palate surgery

President, Hamburg, Germany 1982
Gerhard Pfeiffer was called to Military Service in World War II and was a prisoner of war for several months. After the war, he worked under the direction of Karl Schuchardt who steered his career towards cleft lip and palate and later succeeded Prof Schuchardt as Head of OMS Clinic, Hamburg. Prof Pfeiffer delivered over 250 lectures and received numerous national and international honours for his work. He was President of EAMFS in 1982 overseeing the 6th Congress of EAMFS in Hamburg.

President, Paris, France 1984
Jean Delaire was Director and Chairman of the Stomatology and Maxillofacial Clinic at the University Hospital in Nantes from 1959-1990. He made a major contribution to the understanding of the cleft lip and palate deformity plus other craniofacial deformities. Based on extensive anatomical research he developed a physiological and functional approach to surgery with a significant contribution to the management of speech abnormalities. He was a founder member of the Association Francaise des Chirurgiens Maxillofaciaux in 1973. He wrote over 300 peer-reviewed articles and was published in many textbooks resulting in many honours being bestowed upon him. He was elected President of EAMFS and held the 7th Congress in Paris.

Jacques Levignac, an artist and surgeon, became a stomatologist in France and then continued his training in Canada and the US. Construction of the face, aesthetism and perception, morphological dysrhythm and eurhythms perfectly embodied his philosophies. He served as EACMFS Education Officer from 1980-1994 developing courses at a European level

President, Venice, Italy, 1978
Camillo Curioni. should be remembered for his contribution to both orthognathic and oncological surgery and, in particular, for describing techniques for dissembling and reassembling the facial skeleton in order to reach deep-seated tumours for skeletal and soft tissue reconstruction until the first applications of distraction osteogenesis came into use at the beginning of the 1990s. He also published over 200 papers during his career and was was elected President of EAMFS in 1976, organising the 4th Congress in Venice.

Emil Steinhauser studied medicine and dentistry and then worked for a period of time under the direction of Hugo Obwegeser. His main interest was pre-prosthetic and reconstructive surgery. He also served as Editor in Chief for the Journal.

President, Madrid, Spain 1986
Professor Jose R Alonso del Hoyo was one of the trailblazers of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Spain. In 1977, being chairman of SECOM, official recognition of the speciality was achieved in Spain. He was the Head of the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery in the Hospital de la Princesa, Madrid, from 1974. Subsequently as Full Professor of the University Autonoma of Madrid in Surgery, (1985) he has organised more than 50 courses in Spain and Latin-America. As President of EACMFS he held the 8th Congress in Madrid with some 800 participants from 35 countries, and 600 presentations from around the globe.

President, Tour, France 2004, previously Education and Training Officer
Bernard Devauchelle with a keen interest in writing, drawing and playing music was drawn towards soft tissue surgery because of the plasticity and the numerous possibilities of resilience. Following an early integration in the facial surgery team in the Foch Hospital in Paris 1976 he had the opportunity to discover reconstructive microsurgery through the auto transplantation of flaps. His insatiable appetite for reconstruction placed him as one of the pioneers of such surgery and in performed the first face allotransplantation in 2005. He was elected President of EACMFS in 2002 and hosted the 17th Congress in Tours in 2004.

Hans-Georg Luhr developed the smallest bone fixation system in the world – Luhr Micro System. The development of plate osteosynthesis for treatment of facial skull fractures and congenital facial malformations was recognised by colleagues worldwide.

Helene Matras was the Director of the Department of OMFS at the State Medical Institution in Salzburg. She invested the Fibrin Glue-Tissucol. She was very keen to support the teaching of trainees from East European countries and very generously funded various EACMFS scholarships for a number of years.

Prof Dr Guillermo Raspall is one of the pioneers of oral and maxillofacial surgery in Spain. He graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Barcelona and subsequently, became Professor of Surgery at the Medical School of Barcelona from 1988-2011. He specialised in both oral and maxillofacial surgery and plastic aesthetic and reconstructive surgery. He is an author of many books and has been a regular guest speaker at many international symposiums.

In 1980 Prof Raspall organised the 6th National Congress of the Specialty in Palma de Mallorca which was also a joint meeting with the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Years later he was elected President and organised the 18th European Congress in Barcelona in 2006.

Prof John Lowry graduated from the University of Manchester in dentistry in 1963 and in medicine in 1970. He was committed to postgraduate education and was an Honorary Civilian Consultant in Postgraduate Dental Education to the Army. He was elected to the Board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons and played a leading role in the evolution of examinations in dentistry. He was elected President of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons in 2001. He was elected in 1992 as Assistant Secretary and later in 1998 as Secretary General of EACMFS. In 2003 he was admitted by Her Majesty the Queen as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Throughout his career he worked tirelessly for his profession and died at the age of 66 after a short illness.

Prof Luigi Clauser is a specialist in Maxillofacial Surgery and Odontostomatology having been the last pupil of Dr Paul Tessier, Plastic and Cranio-facial Surgeon in Paris. In the mid 90’s he was part of a humanitarian mission in Tehran to treat wounded patients during the Iran-Iraq conflict. He is an internationally acknowledged expert in the treatment of congenital craniofacial malformations, distraction osteogenesis, autologous fat grafting and regenerative stem cells, and multidisciplinary treatment of exophthalmos in Graves-Basedow disease. He has performed more than 5000 operations on cranio-orbito maxillo facial pathologies, author of over 240 scientific publications and contributed to 9 books. From 2006-2008 he held the position of President of EACMFS and was responsible for promoting maxillofacial surgery in Eastern European countries with limited resources.