Dr. Klaus Mergener is an accomplished physician executive and internationally recognized authority in gastroenterology and GI endoscopy who combines a highly successful medical career with a longstanding interest and active involvement in medical innovation and device development. Dr. Mergener attended medical school in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, Germany, and at Duke University and Harvard University in the U.S. He completed his MD/PhD-thesis summa cum laude at the Institute Pasteur in Paris and with 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate and molecular virologist Dr. Harald zur Hausen at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. He returned to Duke University for his residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in gastroenterology and interventional endoscopy. He received his MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and holds board certifications in Gastroenterology, Medical Management, and Healthcare Quality Management.Dr. Mergener's areas of clinical expertise include interventional endoscopy, cancer prevention, and pancreato-biliary diseases. He has held leadership positions in a variety of practice settings including academic, community hospital-based, and private practice on two continents over the last 25 years. He is a past president of one of the largest endoscopy societies, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), one of only three foreign-born individuals to hold this coveted leadership position. He also served as Associate Editor for ASGE's flagship journal, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and is a current member of the ASGE Foundation Board of Trustees, in addition to serving as co-chair of the World Endoscopy Committee (WEO) Outreach Committee and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Training Committee. He received honorary "fellowship" and "master" designations from 8 professional societies in the Americas, in Europe and in Asia.Throughout his entire career, Dr. Mergener has worked closely with industry partners on device development and as a strategic consultant. In 2022, he accepted the position of Global Head Medical & Scientific Affairs (MSA) and Chief Medical Officer at Pentax Medical, one of the major producers of flexible endoscopes. In this role, Dr. Mergener is overseeing the global de novo development of the new MSA organization and its integration into running operations of Pentax Medical. This has involved creating the three divisional MSA infrastructure (Clinical Affairs, Medical Education, Professional Affairs) with its rapidly growing team of professionals on three continents.