Bart Van Goethem graduated from Ghent University in 1996. He received his specialist training in Utrecht University and became a Diplomate in Small Animal Surgery in 2007. He returned to the Small Animal Teaching Hospital at Ghent University and became head of soft tissue surgery clinics in 2009. His research at Utrecht University resulted in a PhD on 'Innovations in Canine Gonadectomy' in 2016. He is author and co-author of 6 surgical book chapters and has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles in his field of interest. He gave over 500 national and international lectures, reviews articles for scientific journals, and remains an enthusiastic propagator of video-endoscopic surgery.