Frans Hemerijckx

Life & Legacy

Frans Hemerijckx (1902–1969) was a Flemish leprologist, humanist and the founder of the Damien Foundation in Belgium, a non profit non governmental organization engaged in providing treatment and rehabilitation services to people afflicted with leprosy. He spent most of his life in the treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients and initiated a mobile leprosy treatment methodology, Clinic under the trees. On 13 September 1975, Government of Belgium honoured Hemerijckx by issuing a commemorative stamp, depicting his image. (9615) Hemerijckx, a Main-belt comet discovered in 1993 by Eric Walter Elst is named after the Flemish doctor.