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Gender:

Male

Primary Hospital Affiliation:

Hasbro Children's Hospital

Also Associated With:

Rhode Island Hospital

Specialties:

Pediatric Surgery

Surgery

Education:

Residency: Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Residency: Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn & Queens - Cornell University

Fellowship: Ste. Justine Hospital, Montreal

Medical School: University Instelling Antwerpen, Belgium

Areas of Expertise:

Fetal surgery

Laparoscopic surgery

Minimally invasive surgery

Website:

www.pediatric-surgery.ac

Background

Francois Luks, MD, PhD, is a pioneer in endoscopic fetal surgery and an expert on twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and in-utero surgery. He is the director of the Fetal Treatment Program, a joint venture among Brown Medical School, Hasbro Children's Hospital and Women & Infants' Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.

In June 2000, Dr. Luks and his colleagues at Hasbro Children's Hospital and Women & Infants' Hospital performed the first in-utero TTTS procedure in the Northeast. This condition occurs in an estimated 10 percent of identical twins sharing the same placenta, when blood from one fetus (the donor) continually flows to the other (the recipient), endangering the lives of both.

The fetal treatment center in Providence is one of five sites in the United States to offer the procedure, and receives referrals from around the country. It was the only North American center to participate in the first randomized study on TTTS, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004.

Luks was born in Antwerp, Belgium and received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Antwerp. He was trained in general surgery in New York, and in pediatric surgery in Montreal. He is currently an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Brown Medical School.