Founder

French Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation Association

 

Founder

Henri Bismuth Hepato Biliary Center

Paul Brousse Hospital

Honorary Founding President

European Surgical Association

Officier of the Légion d’Honneur of France

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Professor Henri Bismuth is a pioneering figure in hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation whose visionary career has reshaped modern liver surgery. He began his medical training at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris in 1953 and, by 1963, became Chief Resident under Dr. Jacques Hepp at Hôpital Bichat, who was an eminent pioneer in biliary surgery.

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In 1970, he was appointed Professor at Hôpital Paul Brousse in Villejuif, where he established France’s first dedicated hepatobiliary surgery unit. As a trailblazer in transplantation, he performed France’s liver transplant in 1974. In 1993, he founded the Hepatobiliary Center at Hôpita Paul Brousse, one of Europe’s earliest multidisciplinary liver disease centers, offering comprehensive care under one roof.

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Professor Bismuth introduced several transformative surgical advances, including reduced-volume liver grafts for pediatric recipients to receive adult donor livers and the “split-liver” technique, enabling one donor liver to be transplanted into two patients. He also advocated for the concept of multidisciplinary care approach, where hepatologists, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, and others collaborate, which is a concept long before it became standard practice.

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Honoured with numerous distinctions, Professor Bismuth has received honorary doctorates from universities in Turin, Porto, Coimbra, Brussels, and Warsaw, as well as honorary fellowships from major surgical societies, including the American College of Surgeons and the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. He founded and was President of the French Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation Association from 1987 to 1997 and was Honorary Founding President of the European Surgical Association. In 2011, he was named Officier of the Légion d’Honneur in France.

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Professor Bismuth is widely regarded as a living legend in hepatobiliary surgery, not only for his ground-breaking clinical contributions but also for his profound impact as an educator and institution-builder. He has trained and mentored generations of surgeons across Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, leaving a lasting legacy through the many leaders he has shaped in the field. In recognition of his vision and enduring influence, the Henri Bismuth Hepatobiliary Center at Paul Brousse Hospital now bears his name—a testament to the world-class institution he founded.

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Professor Bismuth’s educational legacy is further embodied in the School of Hepatobiliary Compagnons, which he established to propagate excellence in surgical technique, multidisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. From performing France’s first liver transplant in 1974 to pioneering the split-liver technique and advocating for holistic patient care, Professor Bismuth’s work has fundamentally transformed hepatobiliary surgery on a global scale, elevating both clinical outcomes and educational standards for future generations.