David Zimmerman went to medical school (graduating with honors) and underwent surgical training at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. During this time, he obtained his PhD for his dissertation on fistula surgery. After a fellowship in London and observerships in the United States (Dutch Society of Gastrointestinal Surgery Travelling Bursary) and Japan (ESCP Japanese Travelling Fellowship) he specialized in colorectal surgery at Diakonessenhuis Utrecht after which he was EBSQ board certified in 2011. He then became a consultant colorectal surgeon at Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg, The Netherlands

David was responsible for the implementation of minimally invasive colorectal surgery, followed by many more innovations, culminating in the current Hugo RAS robotic programme.

His main research and educational interest is the treatment of perianal fistulas, having authored over 40 international peer-reviewed articles, multiple instructional videos and several book chapters on this topic. David hosts a patient-oriented YouTube channel the “FistelVlog”. He is one of the authors of both the Dutch and European (ESCP) guidelines on Fistula Surgery and organizes the annual ESCP “hands-on” fistula course. Currently he is supervising several PhD candidates on the topic of Treatment of Perianal Fistulas. Besides the Research performed by the multidisciplinary Tilburg Colorectal Research Group, David is an active collaborator in the IWWD (International Watch-and-Wait Database), participant in the ESCP Cohort studies and PLCRC Study Group. These activities resulted in 120 peer-reviewed publications in the past years.

David is a member of the Medical Executive Board of ETZ-hospital and also active in national and international scientific societies. Currently he is Vice-president of the Dutch Society of Colorectal Surgeons and a member of the executive board of the ESCP (European Society of Coloectal Surgery). He is secretary of the Union of European Medical Specialists division of Coloproctology, organizing the European EBSQ Exam in Coloproctology, the foremost pan-European certification for Colorectal Surgeons