The International Hernia Collaboration
About The International Hernia Collaboration
Who We Are
The International Hernia Collaboration (IHC) was founded in 2012 by Dr. Brian Jacob as a way to foster real-time, peer-to-peer education and conversation among hernia surgeons. What began as a small initiative quickly resonated with the surgical community, and the group’s growth was made possible by the early and enthusiastic adoption of thousands of surgeons who recognized its immediate value to their practice.
Today, IHC is a vibrant, international community of over 14,000 members, including hernia surgeons and industry partners from around the world. It was the first online platform to demonstrate the power of real-time collaboration between surgeons and industry—paving the way for transparent discussion, innovation, and shared learning.
Since then, many collaborative surgical education forums have emerged, both on Facebook and across independent platforms—but the IHC was the original group that inspired them all, directly or indirectly. It helped establish a new standard for how surgical communities could connect, support one another, and advance clinical knowledge.
Members use the platform to share cases, post compliant surgical videos and photos, ask questions, offer insights, help with referrals, help with meeting information dissemination, and engage in thoughtful discussion—all focused on improving hernia care and optimizing outcomes.
By embracing social media as a collaborative educational tool, the IHC continues to lead the way in uniting the global hernia community and enhancing the quality of surgical outcomes for patients.
Our current mission is to bring many of the surgeon leaders on the IHC to other countries to collaborate with local surgeons in order to provide an annual hernia meeting for surgeons who may not prefer to travel for their ongoing surgical education. Surgeons interested in hosting an IHC meeting in their home country should contact us.
Please note: this group is intended for medical professionals. Patients seeking consultation should contact Dr. Brian Jacob or your local surgeon, directly.
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