Professor Robert J.M. Klautz completed his medical training at the University of Leiden Medical School. After medical school, he spent two years as a research fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Institute of UC San Francisco from 1991–1993 after which he defended his PhD-thesis in Leiden on Cardiac Mechanics, specifically on single ventricle physiology. He did his surgical training at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. In 2002, he returned to Leiden as a staff surgeon at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, where he became chair of the department in 2008. Since 2019 he is also chair of the department of cardiothoracic surgery of Amsterdam University Medical Center and committed to create the first inter-universitary center of cardiothoracic surgery. His main clinical and research interests are in mitral and aortic valve reconstruction, alternative surgical strategies in heart failure treatment, and ischemia reperfusion injury. He is the residency training director in Leiden and deputy director in Amsterdam and chair of the training committee of the Dutch Association of CardioThoracic Surgery. He serves as a member of the National Medical Disciplinary Board and has been member of several supervisory boards in the health care environment. He is an active member of the EACTS, STS, AATS and serves on the Joint Guideline Committee for Heart Valve Disease of the ESC and EACTS.