Gaston Vantrappen passed away on February 11, 2020, in the presence of his wife and family. As the youngest of his mentees, I want to reflect on the significance of his life for the field of Neurogastroenterology and Motiliy. With the passing away of Gaston Vantrappen, the world lost a truly remarkable clinician, mentor and researcher, and a man with great leadership qualities. His dedication to Gastrointestinal Motility, as it was called in his pioneering days, and the way he led the field with innovative concepts, techniques, and approaches continue to resonate up to this day. His passion remains a source of inspiration to all those who had the privilege of working with him.

Gaston Vantrappen was born in Welle, Belgium, on October 27, 1927. After obtaining his Medical Doctor Degree at Leuven University in 1953, he specialized in internal medicine at Leuven University Hospital Saint Raphael and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He was appointed staff member in Internal Medicine at Leuven University Hospitals in 1962 and professor of Medicine in 1965 at Leuven University. In 1978, he became chief of the newly created service of Gastroenterology, and in 1979 he became chairman of Internal Medicine in the Leuven University Hospitals.

Gaston Vantrappen was a true pioneer of motility research. He was among the first to perform esophageal manometry, and he set the standard for achalasia therapy using pneumatic dilations. In the 1970s and 1980s, achalasia patients came from all over the world to be treated by Prof. Vantrappen. He was also the first to describe the migrating motor complex in man and to demonstrate that its absence was associated with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. His team unraveled the role of motilin as a trigger for human interdigestive motility and also pioneered ambulatory esophageal manometry and intestinal luminal EMG recording, developed, and validated the first gastric emptying breath test in the 1990s and established erythromycin and other macrolides as prokinetics acting through the motilin receptor.

He was internationally very active, contributing with multiple abstracts and presentations to European and International Motility meetings and to Digestive Disease Week of the American Gastroenterology Association. He organized international motility meetings in Leuven in 1975 and 1986, and in Bruges in 1992. He founded the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility in Leuven in 1982, together with Martin Wienbeck, David Wingate, and others. His legacy comprises not only the European Motility Society and his accomplishments in clinical research, but also large numbers of national and international internists and gastroenterologists who trained with him, and the very successful gastroenterology clinical and research unit he created in Leuven. In the motility field, he mentored several researchers who made significant contributions, such as Jan Hellemans, Jozef Janssens, Theo Peeters, Yvo Ghoos, Karel Geboes, Georges Coremans, Gilbert Ghillebert and Inge Depoortere in Belgium, and Salvatore Cucchiara, Raymond Jian, Jiande Chen, Anna Accarino, Daniel Sifrim, Apostolos Mantides, and Vito Annese, among others, internationally.

We now had to say goodbye to an exceptional clinician and academic, who is one of the true big contributors to our field. His impact is perpetuated through his research, through the gastrointestinal motility bastion which the Leuven group continues to be, and through the large numbers of privileged clinicians, gastroenterologists and researchers who trained with him.

Gaston Vantrappen was also a family man, and after his professional life he intensely enjoyed the presence of his wife, 5 children, and 12 grandchildren. They, like all of us who know Gaston, will keep him alive in their fond memories.

加斯顿·范特拉彭（Gaston Vantrappen）于2020年2月11日在他的妻子和家人面前去世。作为他最小的受训者，我想反思一下他的一生对神经胃肠病学和Motiliy领域的重要性。随着加斯顿·范特拉彭（Gaston Vantrappen）的去世，世界失去了一位真正杰出的临床医生，导师和研究人员，以及一位具有卓越领导才能的人。在他开创性的日子里，他对胃肠动力的奉献精神以及他以创新概念，技术和方法领导该领域的方式一直持续到今天。他的热情仍然是所有有幸与他合作的人们的灵感之源。

加斯顿·范特拉彭（Gaston Vantrappen）于1927年10月27日出生于比利时韦尔。1953年在鲁汶大学获得医学博士学位后，他在鲁汶大学圣拉斐尔大学医院和芝加哥西北大学医学院内科专业。1962年，他被任命为鲁汶大学医院内科工作人员，并于1965年被任命为鲁汶大学医学教授。1978年，他成为新成立的胃肠病学部门的负责人，并于1979年成为鲁汶大学医院内科主任。

加斯顿·范特拉彭（Gaston Vantrappen）是运动研究的真正开创者。他是最早进行食管测压的人之一，他为使用气动扩张术治疗门失弛缓症制定了标准。在1970年代和1980年代，来自世界各地的门失弛症患者接受Vantrappen教授的治疗。他也是第一个描述人体内运动性运动复合物并证明其缺乏与小肠细菌过度生长有关的人。他的团队揭示了胃动素作为人类消化系统蠕动的触发因素的作用，还开创了食管动态食管测压和肠道腔内肌电图记录，开发并验证了1990年代的第一个胃排空呼气试验，并建立了红霉素和其他大环内酯类药物作为促动力剂通过胃动素受体。

他在国际上非常活跃，为欧洲和国际动力会议以及美国胃肠病学协会消化疾病周撰写了多个摘要和演讲。他分别于1975年和1986年在鲁汶以及1992年在布鲁日组织了国际运动会议。他于1982年与马丁·维恩贝克（David Wienbeck），大卫·温盖特（David Wingate）等人一起在鲁汶成立了欧洲神经胃肠病和运动学会。他的遗产不仅包括欧洲动力学会及其在临床研究方面的成就，还包括与他一起训练的众多国内外专家和胃肠病学家，以及他在鲁汶创建的非常成功的胃肠病临床和研究部门。在运动领域，他指导了几位做出了重大贡献的研究人员，

现在，我们不得不告别一位杰出的临床医生和学者，他们是我们领域的真正重要贡献者之一。他的研究，鲁汶研究小组继续保持的胃肠动力堡垒，以及与他一起训练的众多特权临床医生，胃肠病学家和研究人员都将继续他的影响力。

加斯顿·范特拉彭（Gaston Vantrappen）也是一个有家可归的人，在他的职业生涯结束后，他非常享受妻子，5个孩子和12个孙子的陪伴。就像我们认识加斯顿的所有人一样，他们将使他活在美好的回忆中。