Paul Devroey
The Modern Laboratory · People
The Modern Laboratory
Paul Devroey
The gynaecologist who brought IVF to Brussels, and stood with the couples as ICSI began.
A doctor drawn to beginnings. Paul Devroey was born in 1946 in Hoeilaart, near Brussels. He graduated in medicine from the University of Leuven in 1971 and trained in obstetrics and gynaecology, much of it in Dendermonde. Fascinated by the beginning of life, he also spent a year studying male fertility. He saw infertility as a problem for the couple, not for the woman alone.
Brussels IVF. After the birth of Louise Brown he turned fully to reproductive medicine and moved to the Free University of Brussels (VUB), where he worked from 1980. With André Van Steirteghem he set out to build an IVF programme, learning from the team at Monash University in Melbourne. The first Brussels IVF baby was born in 1983. He led the fertility centre’s clinical service from its founding until he became emeritus in October 2011.
ICSI. He was one of the four authors of the 1992 Lancet paper that reported the first pregnancies after ICSI. In the years that followed, the Brussels team extended the method to men whose sperm had to be taken from the epididymis or the testis. In 1995 he was first author of a report of pregnancies and a birth after ICSI with frozen and thawed epididymal sperm.
Service to the field. He co-founded the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in 1985 and chaired it from 2005 to 2007. He also founded the Belgian Society for Reproductive Medicine. For many years he chaired the medical ethics committee of the Brussels university hospital, and he served on Belgium’s Advisory Committee on Bioethics. His honours include fellowship ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and an honorary doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Also see: André Van Steirteghem, Gianpiero D. Palermo, Hubert Joris, Zsolt Peter Nagy
About the sources
- Van Steirteghem A. Eicel zoekt zaadcel voor vaste relatie. Baanbrekend ivf-onderzoek aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel (ISBN 9789464983289), sample chapter “Paul Devroey” (boekhuis.nl PDF): born 1946 in Hoeilaart; medical degree KU Leuven 1971; training in Dendermonde 1971 to 1977; a year of andrology; VUB and UZ Brussel from 1980; head of service until emeritus in October 2011; ethics committee; Advisory Committee on Bioethics; co-founder of ESHRE 1985 and chair 2005 to 2007; founder of the Belgian Society for Reproductive Medicine; FRCOG ad eundem; honorary doctorate, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel. VUB Science prizes: the Liebaers-Van Steirteghem Award, 26 August 2025: meeting of Devroey and Van Steirteghem; Tina, first Brussels IVF baby, 1983.
- ESHRE. Past Chairmen (eshre.eu): Professor Paul Devroey (Brussels), 2005 to 2007.
- Devroey P, Silber S, Nagy Z, Liu J, Tournaye H, Joris H, Verheyen G, Van Steirteghem A. Ongoing pregnancies and birth after intracytoplasmic sperm injection with frozen-thawed epididymal spermatozoa. Human Reproduction 1995;10(4):903–906. PubMed 7650140.
- Palermo G, Joris H, Devroey P, Van Steirteghem AC. Pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection of single spermatozoon into an oocyte. Lancet 1992;340(8810):17–18. PubMed 1351601.
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Compiled with AI-assisted research and checked against the original sources. Not yet peer-reviewed. Corrections are warmly welcomed.
