[6][7] Van der Merwe grew up in the town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
[1] As of 2014, Van der Merwe held the following qualifications: Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) of England, MRCS of Edinburgh, Fellowship of the College of Urologists of South Africa, a Master of Medicine in Urology, and a Master of Clinical Epidemiology.
[2] Apart from his positions at the University of Stellenbosch and the Tygerberg Hospital, Van der Merwe is a National Deputy Delegate for South Africa with the Société Internationale d'Urologie.
Van der Merwe predicted the transplanted penis to be fully functional in two years' time.
[1] In 2008, Van der Merwe was awarded the Karl Storz Golden Cystoscope for the most outstanding young urologist in South Africa.