Willem A. Bemelman graduated as a surgeon in 1994 trained at the department of Surgery of the Academic Medical Hospital, University of Amsterdam and St. Lucas Hospital in Amsterdam. After his training as a surgeon, he worked at the department of Surgery at Leiden University Medical Center being responsible for the benign gastrointestinal disease. In 1999 he returned to the Academic Medical Center to develop the Minimal Invasive Surgery further.
In 2006 he was appointed as a Professor in Surgery. His interest nowadays is mainly the (minimal invasive) treatment of IBD, colorectal cancer and complication surgery. His focus of research is the IBD, colorectal cancer and complication surgery. Bemelman is a EBSQ certified colorectal surgeon and involved in societies as the UEGF, (S)-ECCO and ESCP.