Born in Belgium Prof. Lapage qualified as a veterinarian at the University of Liège in 1987. He obtained a Master of Science from the University of Montreal (Canada), became Privat Dozent in 1998 from the University of Bern (Switzerland) and received habilitation to direct research from the University of Lyon (France) the following year. All these post-graduate degrees were concentrating on researches about noninvasive assessment of equine bone.

His clinical career started has a private practitioner in Belgium and France before being accepted for an Internship at the University of Montreal followed by a Residency in large animal surgery in the same institution. Dr. Lapage became Charter Member of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS) and in 1994 Diplomate of the same College. During his twenty odd years in Academics he held positions of: Equine Surgery Clinician at the University of Montreal, Head of the equine surgery team at the University of Bern and since 2000, he is Full Professor of surgery and Director of the Equine Center at the VetAgro Sup -Veterinary Campus of Lyon (University of Lyon, France).