Past President

Jacques Donnez

President 1998-2000
Bruxelles, Belgium

Professor of Gynaecology, Université Catholique de Louvain, Bruxelles, Belgium. Head of the Department of Gynaecology,  Université Catholique de Louvain’s Teaching Hospital, Bruxelles, Belgium.

Professor Donnez was a founding member and first president of the World Endometriosis Society from 1998-2000. Indeed, the idea of creating a society specifically devoted to endometriosis was born out of discussions between himself and other like-minded individuals, who felt it necessary to raise the profile of this debilitating disease and provide advice and help to those seeking it, be they clinicians or lay persons.

Together with his great friend and collaborator, Rodolphe Maheux, Professor Donnez set about establishing this new society, which would in time become a leading authority on endometriosis and a platform for the exchange of information and experience in the field through its world congresses.

Over the years, Professor Donnez has been instrumental in many WES initiatives and active in promoting greater understanding of endometriosis through his tireless work in this area. Back in 2000, he was responsible for the issue and distribution of a CD on endometriosis, the first major action by the Society to shed greater light on the disease in an attempt to advance knowledge and enhance treatments.

As one of the pioneers in the field of endometriosis, Professor Donnez has remained committed to this cause throughout his career.

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Past President

John Rock

President 2000-2002
Miami, USA

Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Founding Dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, USA.

Throughout his career Dr Rock has brought academic programs to new levels of excellence and increased research productivity, established outstanding patient care units and fostered excellent educational programs.

Dr Rock is recognised as an outstanding reconstructive surgeon, and his basic research focused on the pathophysiology of endometriosis and the determination of efficacy of surgical reconstructive procedures and medical therapy using the randomised clinical trial. He was the first to recognise and describe the presence of microscopic endometriosis which was the basis of the introduction of new therapies for this complex disease.

Dr Rock has published extensively on the diagnosis and treatment of utero-vaginal anomalies, and his surgical innovations have improved the reproductive outcomes of these disorders. He is Editor of Telinde’s Operative Gynecology, one of the most respected textbooks in the field of gynaecologic surgery. He has served as the President of The Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the World Endometriosis Society.

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Past President

Robert Shaw

President 2002-2005
Nottingham, England

Robert Shaw CBE, MBChB, MD, FRCOG, FRCS, FACOG served as the president of the World Endometriosis from 2002 to 2005, and it also a past president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist (UK).

Professor Shaw is also a founding board member of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation, where he served as president from July 2006 to January 2010.

Shaw is Professor Emeritus from Nottingham University with a long-standing interest in reproductive medicine and has published widely within the fields of endometriosis and reproductive medicine.

Together with Professor Eric Thomas he presided over the 7th World Congress on Endometriosis, which took place in London in May 2000.

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Past President

Rodolphe Maheux

President 2005-2007
Quebec City, Canada

Professor Rodolphe Maheux co-founded the World Endometriosis together with Professor Jacques Donnez in 1998, and served as its president from 2005 until his untimely death in 2007.

To honour Professor Maheux’s tremendous commitment to bringing together the global endometriosis community, WES has established two awards in his memory.

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Past President

Hans Evers

President 2008-2011
Maastricht, The Netherlands

Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Editor-in-Chief, Human Reproduction

Professor Evers, MD PhD FRCOG, is the Past-Chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, ESHRE (2001-2003) and the immediate past-chairman of the Dutch National Committee on Research in Human Beings (2004-2008). He is the Editor of Human Reproduction, and has been on the Editorial Board of Fertility & Sterility from 1992-1997, and of several other journals.

Professor Evers has (co)authored well over 250 original articles in peer-review journals. Among the honours and awards he has received are the honorary fellowship (FRCOG ad eundem) of the British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2002), the Established Clinician Award of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (1998), and the FOGSI Rallis Award, All Indian College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (1998). Hans Evers has obtained honorary memberships from the Middle East Fertility Society (2000), the Sociedad Argentina de Esterilidad y Fertilidad (2002), the Sociedad Argentina de Medicina Reproductiva (2007), and the Australian Gynaecologic Endoscopy Society (2008). He is a recipient of the World Infertility Award, American Infertility Association, USA (2003) and of the Order of Orange-Nassau to the Netherlands.

Hans Evers is a founding member of the World Endometriosis Society and served as its President from 2008-2011.

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Past President

Paolo Vercellini

President 2011-2014
Milano, Italy

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi, Milano, Italy. Chief of the Division of Gynaecologic Surgery, “Luigi Mangiagalli” Institute, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy

Professor Vercellini is a gynaecologist specialising in the management of endometriosis and adenomyosis. His research interests include investigation of some pathogenic aspects of the diseases, and assessment of medical and surgical treatments. He joined the “Luigi Mangiagalli” Institute and the University of Milano in 1977 as a medical student, and received his MD in 1981 from the Università degli Studi of Milano, having the honour to work with Professor Giovanni Battista Candiani. Professor Vercellini completed his residency in Ob/Gyn at Milano University in 1985 and initiated the activity of the Mangiagalli Endometriosis Centre, now a national referral service for women with severe disease forms.

In 2002 Vercellini obtained the position of associate professor at the University of Milano. He was later appointed full professor at the same university. He was elected a member of the executive committee of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) for the years 1995-1999. From 2009 to 2015 he served as associate editor for Human Reproduction and, since then, for Human Reproduction Update.

He is author or co-author of more than 300 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and has an h-index of 61 (Web of Science) – 67 (Scopus).

Vercellini served on the WES Board from 1998 to 2017, and was its president for the term 2011-2014. Since 2017 he is an ambassador of this organisation that represents in the world all the issues related with the disease he has been working on for his entire professional life.

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Past President

Linda Giudice

President 2014-2017
San Francisco, USA

Distinguished Professor and Chair Emerita of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA. The Robert B Jaffe, MD, Endowed Chair in the Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, USA

Professor Giudice joined UCSF in 2005 as the Robert B Jaffe, MD, Endowed Professor and Chair of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Sciences and founded the Programme on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at UCSF in 2006.

Professor Giudice is a biochemist, gynaecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist who specialises in endometriosis, infertility, assisted reproduction, and ovulatory disorders. Her research includes endometriosis pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and diagnostics, environmental impacts on reproductive health, endometrial biology, and placental-uterine interactions.

She received her BS from Columbia University, her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California Los Angeles, and her MD from Stanford University. As a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, Professor Giudice worked under Nobel Laureate Gunter Blobel. Professor Giudice completed residencies in ObGyn at both Stanford University and Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Stanford University. She was faculty at Stanford University for 19 years and was Founding Director of the Center for Research on Reproduction, Women’s Health and Genomic Medicine and the Women’s Health @ Stanford Program, as well as Director of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Division at Stanford.

In 2002, Professor Giudice was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and in 2017 was elected to the National Academy of Inventors. She is former Chair of the FDA Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her work including the 2008 President’s Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI), and the 2008 Women in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association. She is also the recipient of the American Infertility Association “Illumination Award” for her work on the environment and reproductive health, the 2008 recipient of the ASRM Distinguished Researcher Award, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  In 2013 she was honoured with the Stanford University Medical Center Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award, and in 2015 was awarded the Society for Reproductive Investigation Frederick Naftolin Award for Mentorship.

Professor Giudice is past president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, vice president of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation, and president-elect of the International Federation of Fertility Societies. She served at the president of the World Endometriosis Society from 2014 – 2017.

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Past President

Neil Johnson

Past president 2017-2021
Auckland, New Zealand

Gynaecologist and Fertility Sub-specialist, Repromed, Auckland, New Zealand. Adjunct Professor, University of Adelaide, Australia. Honorary Clinical Academic, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Neil Johnson’s (MD CREI FRCOG FRANZCOG MRCGP) main research interests are in evidence based gynaecology and fertility treatments, the fertility aspects of endometriosis (for which he has pioneered the use of lipiodol in New Zealand and internationally), and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Neil previously served on, and latterly chaired, the board of Endometriosis New Zealand from 2004 – 2019, and chaired the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility (REI) Subspecialty Training Committee from 2009 – 2012. He was inaugural chair of the ACCEPT (Australasian CREI Consensus Expert Panel on Trial evidence) Group from its inception in 2008 to 2014 and the multicentre clinical trials network REACT-ANZ (Reproduction And Clinical Trials – Australia and New Zealand) from 2006 to 2014. He had the privilege of convening the Montpellier WES consensus on the management of endometriosis in 2011, the Sao Paulo WES consensus on diagnosis and classification of endometriosis in 2014, and the San Antonio WES consensus on specialist care and networks of expertise in endometriosis in 2017.  He is the New Zealand representative to the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE).

Neil Johnson was appointed to the board of the World Endometriosis Society in March 2008 and, having served as its Vice President from 2011-2014, was appointed President Elect in April 2014, and was President from May 2017 through May 2021.

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