The first edition of the vascular symposium in Leuven gave also rise to the creation of the Hospithera award. Since then we have been the proud host of its attribution. Only the name has changed over the years.
In 1985 the company Vascutek was founded in Glasgow to design and commercialize polyester (Dacron) vascular prostheses with the knitting technique they developed.
The company Hospithera, founded in 1962, was already an important distributor of medical devices at that time and immediately saw the importance of this new product range.
Hospithera has been the exclusive distributor of Vascutek prostheses in Belgium and Luxembourg for more than 35 years.
In 1995, under the impetus of the illustrious Jan Matthijs – Manager of the Surgery Division within Hospithera-, together with prof. Raphael Suy and prof. André Nevelsteen -former heads of the department of vascular surgery in Leuven-, an award was created that rewards a young surgeon for an original clinical or experimental work that contributes to the development of vascular therapy. Since then, this award has been attributed and presented at the annual Vascular Symposium of the University Hospital Leuven.
The Medical Devices industry is not only characterized by the development of new products, but also by mergers and acquisitions of companies. As a result, Vascutek has become “Terumo Aortic”, and Hospithera is now part of the Duomed Group, but the intention to continue to support this beautiful annual initiative remains unchanged.