Professor Jan C Molenaar obituary
Professor Jan C Molenaar
Paediatric Surgeon 1932-2025
The BAPS wishes to record the achievements of Prof. Jan Molenaar, late of Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam who passed away aged 93 in November 2025.
Jan Molenaar graduated from the Free University (Vrije Universiteit or VU for short) of Amsterdam in 1959. After three years as a missionary doctor in Papua New Guinea, he returned to Amsterdam for surgical training. In 1969 he spent a year in paediatric surgery with Dr Davy Vervat in the Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam. Back in Amsterdam, he set up a new paediatric surgery department in the VU, but in 1974, returned to Rotterdam as head of the Paediatric Surgery Department there delivering his inaugural lecture as Professor in 1977.
Together with the heads of the departments of Paediatrics and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Jan developed the Sophia Children’s Hospital, part of the Erasmus University, into a nationally and internationally renowned Academic Children’s Hospital. His vision regarding the treatment of newborns with severe congenital defects became the foundation of the current academic department of Paediatric Surgery, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025.
Jan Molenaar played a significant role, along with his colleagues Vos in Amsterdam and Festen in Nijmegen, in obtaining recognition for the field of paediatric surgery. The Working Group on Surgery in Children and Newborns became in 1981 the ‘Dutch Association for Paediatric Surgery (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Kinderchirurgie), the first sub-association of the Dutch Association for Surgery.
Regarding scientific research, Jan lived by Aristotle’s saying: “Wonder is the beginning of all knowledge,” which resulted in the so-called “Molenaar model.” This meant that a clinical department seeks a connection with basic sciences while maintaining its own identity. Central to this is the scientific curiosity that remained vibrant after Jan’s retirement in 1997; he viewed this only as a farewell to his role as department head. The establishment of the Science Café and the Laurens Lectures (together with Prof. Frank Grosveld, Professor of Cell Biology at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam) laid the basis for accessible contact. The most challenging subjects were discussed openly to bring science closer to people and society.
In the 1980s, advances in diagnostics and treatment raised the question, “Should we always do everything that is possible?” Jan Molenaar reminded his staff to remain in dialogue with nurses, parents, and other stakeholders in the treatment process to determine whether the provided care is genuinely in the best interest of the child. He believed that a paediatric surgeon should not only be guided by what is technically possible, but primarily by the expected quality of life. He emphasized the importance of considering the medical-ethical aspects of paediatric surgery.
Jan Molenaar enjoyed great respect abroad, with honorary membership many paediatric surgical associations. He regularly delivered keynote lectures in various locations worldwide; his department contributed regularly to the BAPS annual Conference. His international standing was further exemplified when he became the European Editor of The Journal of Pediatric Surgery.
In April 2024, Jan, along with the professors of the Paediatric Surgery department and under the leadership of Prof. Mart van Lieburg, recorded a series of video conversations documenting ’50 Years of Academic Paediatric Surgery in Rotterdam.’ This initiative made Jan Molenaar’s vision and contributions to Paediatric Surgery accessible to everyone through the website of the Medical History Meeting Point in the Netherlands. The in-person 50 year symposium was held in December 2025, three weeks after Jan had died at the age of 93.
Many senior members of BAPS will recall that for much of Jan’s retirement he was looking after To his wife who had increasingly severe Alzheimer’s dementia until her death in 2018. His expertise and observations on this task came to the notice of Dutch television where an interview highlighted Jan’s wonderful patience and important insights into the care of a spouse with dementia.
BAPS can be proud of being one of the vehicles of the huge contribution to Paediatric Surgery made by Professor Jan Molenaar. He was awarded the Denis Browne Gold Medal in 1994 and led the local team in the Rotterdam BAPS meeting that same year. He greatly valued his membership and in turn did much to increase the international influence of BAPS.
(PG gratefully acknowledges the help of Professors Frans Hazebroek and Dick Tibboel, and of Jan Ekkes Molenaar in the preparation of this record)
Mr Peter Gornall – Paediatric Surgeon, Birmingham Children’s Hospital
[edited by Mark Davenport]