Charles Willems (1859-1930): Belgian military and academic surgeon and first president of the International Society of Surgery.

Belgian surgeon Charles Willems (1859-1930) played a prominent role in the founding of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie (International Society of Surgery), of which he became the first president in 1902. He kept the office until 1929, when illness obliged him to discontinue. He had an important military career in the Balkan War but especially during World War I.