Kenneth F. Binmoeller, MD, is recognized nationally and internationally as an authority and leader in advanced endoscopic procedures and endosonography. He has been performing complex interventional endoscopic procedures since the late 1980's and has authored more than 200 publications and several books. Dr. Binmoeller is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG), the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (FASGE), and the Japanese Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Society (FJGES). In 2013 the ASGE honored Dr Binmoeller with the prestigious Master Endoscopist of the Year Award.

In 2020 Dr Binmoeller received the Gene and Lyn Overholt Endowed Lecture Award.

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Dr Binmoeller is the founder and Director of Interventional Endoscopy Services (IES) at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.   Founded in 2001, this was the first center of its kind dedicated to the practice and advancement of therapeutic endoscopy. IES has become the premier referral center in Northern California and greater region for endoscopic alternatives to surgery. Patients from across the U.S. and abroad seek endoscopic care at IES.  

 

Dr Binmoeller lists three career-long passions: Endoscopy, Innovation, and Teaching. Endoscopy is the overriding passion that fuels the rest. He is a "universal endoscopist" with expertise in all aspects of interventional endoscopy. His daily practice inspired innovation to improve outcomes for his patients and enable new procedures. He holds over 50 patents for novel endoscopic technologies.   

 

Several of Dr Binmoeller’s inventions have developed to successful commercial products that benefit patients around the world. His first patent, filed in 1998, was for an automated device for endosonography-guided tissue sampling. The patent was assigned to the Olympus Medical Corporation for development and global commercialization of the NA-11J-KB Powershot™ needle. Dr Binmoeller founded his first company, Xlumena Inc, in 2004 around a portfolio of inventions for EUS-guided translumenal therapy. Xlumena was acquired in April 2015 by Boston Scientific, which has enabled the global commercialization of the AXIOS lumen-apposing stent™*.     (Disclosure: Dr Binmoeller is a paid educator and trainer for Boston Scientific, but receives NO compensation for commercial product sales).

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Dr Binmoeller is the founder of several start-up companies developing devices with established proof-of-concept:
1. EndoSphere Inc.  Created around a group of patents that enable physiologic treatment of obesity and metabolic diseases.  EndoSphere’s Satisphere™ duodenal implant is currently in clinical trials.  

2. Endeau Inc.  Developing devices and techniques for water-aided ("underwater") endoscopic procedures.  

3. KBSolutions Inc.  Developing a novel endoscopic tissue closure device. 

 

Because innovation can only disseminate to benefit patients through teaching, Dr. Binmoeller considers teaching the most rewarding of his passions. He has trained and mentored endoscopists from all corners of the world. In 2002 he started a postgraduate International Scholar’s Program in Advanced Endoscopy. His center at CPMC hosts the annual New Frontiers course with live demonstration of new procedures that is transmitted to a large conference center and globally over the internet.  

 

Short biography:
Dr. Binmoeller's training and professional positions have been split between the United States and Europe. He attended medical school at the University of Freiburg in Germany and the University of Bern in Switzerland, followed by internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and gastroenterology fellowship at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. He held University appointments at the CHR Cimiez in Nice, France (1990-1991) , University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany (1991-1998), and UCSD Medical Center in San Diego (1998 to 2001). He is currently Director of the Interventional Endoscopy Services at CPMC in San Francisco.