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In memoriam - Prof. dr. Dr. Marcel Waldinger
Published in News on Thursday, 02 May 2019
MD Waldinger. On 1 May, at the age of 64, a heart attack suddenly died of our esteemed colleague, involved NVVS member, neuropsychiatrist and sexologist FECSM Marcel Waldinger. Prof. Marcel D. Waldinger worked from 1993 to 2013 as a consultative psychiatrist at the Haga Hospital in The Hague, where he was head of the Neurosexology outpatient clinic. From 2009 to 2015, he was Professor of Sexual Psychopharmacology at Utrecht University, and in January 2015 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University School of Medicine in Philadelphia (PA), United States. Since 2011 he had his own practice in Amstelveen, and later also in Antwerp.
Marcel was famous in the Netherlands and far beyond for his scientific work on premature ejaculation. He found a scientific home in the European and International Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM / ISSM) and was an influential member of the former ISSM Standards Committee that developed guidelines for many sexual problems. The recognition of his expertise was also reflected in the fact that from 1995 he was invited to contribute to every new edition of the International Consultation on Sexual Medicine.
He has gained the most fame as the researcher who developed clear criteria for lifelong premature ejaculation. He assumed that an intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) of less than 1 minute, occurring in an estimated 2-5% of all men, was indicative of neurobiological aetiology (serotonin disregulation). This work not only facilitated the classification and research into the prevalence of premature ejaculation, but also research into the effect of drug treatment of this complaint. Despite his strictly neurobiological view of sexual problems where he did not shun the controversy, he was very critical of the role of a pharmaceutical company that tried to polish up the prevalence rates of primary premature ejaculation for the sale of a new drug and concealed that existing medicines work better than the new ones.
He also manifested himself as a warm and passionate advocate of patients with other rare sexual complaints, such as Restless Genital Syndrome (ReGS) and Post Orgasmic Illness Syndrome (POIS). He believed that the emancipation of these patients was promoted by excluding a possible contribution of psychosocial factors to these complaints from the outset. In line with this vision, he said the term ReGS was better suited to the complaints that were previously described as Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), later Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD). He saw in these complaints a resemblance to Restless Leggs Syndrome, of which pudendus neuropathy is considered the main cause. He assumed from POIS that it was about symptoms of an autoimmune reaction.
His strictly neurobiological view of sexual problems contrasted with his psychodynamic view of human problems. Few will know that Marcel started many of his workdays with one or more sessions of classical psychoanalysis to a few patients with whom he maintained a long-term treatment relationship that was consistent with this treatment vision.
Marcel was also regularly visible in the NVVS with his striking personality. He was one of the founders of the merger between the NVVS and the WVSD and was a valued member of the Sexologicum Concilium, the Dutch and Flemish professors with a sexological teaching assignment. We are shocked by Marcel's unexpected and premature death. Colleagues who saw him in March during an international guideline meeting on PGAD report his unwavering enthusiasm for the profession and his many new plans, including a professorate in China. We are sad about the loss of a respected scientist, teacher and clinician. We wish his partner Trudy and family and friends a lot of strength with this big loss. Marcel was buried on 5 May at the Jewish Cemetery in Muiderberg.
- Ellen Laan - on behalf of the Concilium Sexologicum
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