Dr. Tonnard is a member of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery, the Belgian and Dutch Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, the ISAPS (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons) and the ASAPS (American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons). He has also been appointed Fellow of the Collegium Chirurgicum Plasticum and Fellow of the European Board of Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Tonnard is also the author of approximately fifty scientific publications, has presented over two hundred scientific papers at national and international conferences, and made numerous contributions to scientific articles and books. He is much in demand as a speaker and moderator at international conferences and is an authority on surgical rejuvenation of the face.

Together with Dr. Verpaele he developed the revolutionary MACS lift, a minimally invasive facelift technique that aims to produce the best and most natural result with rapid recovery and minimal complications. This achievement has earned him and Dr. Verpaele an international reputation. In 2004 and 2007 they contributed two scientific chapters about this surgical technique, written for plastic surgeons all over the world: The MACS-lift Short Scar Rhytidectomy, 2004, St Louis; and Short Scar Face-lifting, Operative Strategies and Techniques, 2007, St Louis.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER

• M.D. degree with cum laude at University of Gent, Belgium 1980-1987 Assistant Resident in General Surgery, University Hospital Gent, Belgium(Prof. Dr. F. Derom), 1987 – 1990

• Fellow in the Department of Plastic Surgery, Hôpital du Tondu,

• Bordeaux, France (Prof. Dr. Jacques Baudet), 1990

• Assistant Resident in the Department of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital, Gent, Belgium (Prof. Dr. Guido Matton), 1990 – 1993

• Fellow in the department of Craniomaxillofacial and Plastic Surgery, Hospital Gea Gonzalez, Mexico City, Mexico (Prof. Dr. Fernando Ortiz Monasterio), 1993

• Fellow in the department of Plastic Surgery, Vanderbilt Unversity, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (Dr. Patrick Maxwell), 1994

• Fellow in the department of Plastic Surgery, University of Chicago/St-Joseph Hospital, Chicago, USA (Dr. Gary Burget), 1994

• Consultant Plastic Surgeon, St. Luke Hospital Gent, Belgium, since March 1994

• Founder and Co-director of the private clinic “Coupure Centre for Plastic Surgery” in Gent, Belgium since 1997

• Co-founder and co-director of the “Esthetic Medical Center II” (E:MC²) in St-Martens-Latem, Belgium in 2007.

• Assistant Clinical Professor, Rhinoplastic Surgery, University Hospital Gent, Belgium, 1994 – 2006