Short Bios

DEBATE SESSION: REVISION OF SLEEVE – PART 1

Lilian Kow (Australia)

Prof. Lilian Kow is current President of IFSO, Senior Past President of IFSO Asia Pacific Chapter and Senior Past President of the Obesity Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand (OSSANZ). Prof. Kow is a senior consultant surgeon at Flinders Medical Centre and Clinical Associate Professor at Flinders University of South Australia. She has been involved in training surgeons in bariatric surgery nationally and internationally. Over the years, Prof. Kow has visited many bariatric clinics around the world and is of the firm belief that bariatric surgery works better with an effective support program.  She has been at the forefront along with her colleagues at the Adelaide Bariatric Centre in developing a very effective multidisciplinary program for supporting our patients in their weight loss journey.  The program in Adelaide was one of the initial ones adopted in Australia and internationally and the first to be used in South Australia

Khalid Mirza Gari (Saudi Arabia), IFSO-MENAC President
Director of Bariatric and Obesity Center in Dammam Medical Complex
FRCSI / Senior Consultant Bariatric Surgery
President of IFSO-MENAC /V.P SASMBS/ Past V. President GOSS.

Ali Khammas (UAE)
Former President of Emirates Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery ESMBS. Member at Large of IFSO MENAC in the IFSO Executive Board
Co-Director of Dubai Residency program of General Surgery
Chairman of Central morbidity and mortality committee in Dubai Health Authority

Hazem Al-Momani (UAE)
Consultant, General Surgery & Bariatric Surgery. He started his surgical training in the United Kingdom, during which he was awarded the Gwilym Griffith Travelling Fellowship which enabled him to visit the Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo where he learnt the principles of laparoscopic gastric surgery. Dr. Al Momani became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2013. Upon completing his higher surgical training, he further went on to hold the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) fellowship in Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery. Member of the IFSO Communication Committee.

Ahmad Bashir (Jordan)
Chair of IFSO Communication Committee. Performed surgical residency at St Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA. Completed fellowship in Minimally Invasive (MIS) & Bariatric Surgery at USCF Fresno, CA, USA. Moved to Jordan to become founder & director of Gastrointestinal, Bariatric & Metabolic Center (GBMC) at Jordan Hospital, where currently practicing MIS & Bariatric surgery. Former Chairman of communication committee of IFSO Middle East & North Africa Chapter (IFSO MENAC) & the current President-elect of the Pan Arab Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.

Alaa Abbass (Egypt)
President  of Egyptian Society of Bariatric Surgeons, ESBS. Professor of Surgery Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
Head of Bariatric Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, Ain Shams University

DEBATE SESSION: REVISION OF SLEEVE – PART 2

Gerhard Prager (Austria)
Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Vienna Medical University, Vienna, Austria.
Former President of the Austrian Society for Obesity Surgery.
IFSO European Chapter President

Hayssam Fawal (Lebanon)
Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Unit in Makassed General Hospital- Lebanon.
Executive Board of the Lebanese Society for General Surgery- Lebanon.
Medical Director of BSC (Bariatric Surgery Clinic Center) – Lebanon.
Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine in Beirut Arab University – Lebanon.
Consultant in Hepato-Biliary surgery in Makassed General Hospital and Rafic Hariri Hospital (American University of Beirut affiliate) – Lebanon.

Mohammed Al Hadad (UAE)
Head of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, Consultant Bariatric Surgeon, Consultant General Surgeon
Dr Al Hadad is a Consultant Bariatric Surgeon and Head of the Centre of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, a designated Centre of Excellence in Healthpoint. He is an SRC-accredited Master Surgeon who works closely with our partners at Imperial College London Diabetes Centre. A graduate of the University of Baghdad’s College of Medicine, Dr Al Hadad is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He also holds a PhD in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics.

Osama Taha (Egypt)
CMO of overweight surgery clinics, Cairo, Egypt
Establisher of bariatric unit, Rashed Hospital – Dubai.
Establisher of Bariatric Unit, SKMC, Ajman
Member Swedish Research group and
Vice president of Egyptian society of Metabolic & Bariatric surgery (ESBS).
Master Surgeon of Excellence by Surgical Review Corporation “ Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery”
Chief of Bariatric Surgery Unit, Assuit University Hospital, Assuit, Egypt.
Professor of Surgery,Assuit University, Assuit, Egypt.

Salman Al Sabah (Kuwait)
President of GOSS
Dr. Salman Al Sabah MBBS, MBA, FRCSC, FACS completed his residency in General Surgery and Master of Management and Health Leadership degree at McGill University, Canada. He also completed his Fellowship in Minimal Invasive and Bariatric Surgery at McGill University.
Dr. Al-Sabah is also the Director of the First and Second Kuwait Bariatric Metabolic Surgery Conference and the First Gulf Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society Meeting.

Khaled Gawdat (Egypt)
Professor of Surgery. He is the esteemed Founder and Honorary president ESBS, President elect IFSO MENAC, and member of the Editorial Board of Obesity Surgery.

BARIATRICS FOR GENERAL SURGEONS

Ali Almontashery (Saudi Arabia)
Consultant General / MIS & Bariatric Surgeon
General Surgery Program Director
Head of Bariatric surgery unit, and Deputy Chairman of the Specialized Surgical Center, King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Arab/Saudi Board of General Surgery, 2008
Minimally Invasive & Bariatric Surgery Fellowship, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2012
IFSO member
SAGES member
Board member of Gulf Obesity Surgery Society (GOSS)
Active member in Saudi Arabian Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Estuardo Behrens (Guatemala)
Current President of IFSO LAC.
Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeon – Bariatric and Metabolic Surgeon, New Life Center Guatemala.
Past President of Guatemalan Association of Surgery, Past President of Guatemalan Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, Past Executive Director of IFSO LAC.

Khalid Mirza Gari (Saudi Arabia)
President of IFSO-MENAC
Director of Bariatric and Obesity Center in Dammam Medical Complex
FRCSI / Senior Consultant Bariatric Surgery
/V.P SASMBS/ Past V. President GOSS.

Mohey Elbanna (Egypt)
Prof. of GI, Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery, Ain Shams University, El Cairo, Egypt.
Governor of Egypt Chapter of the American College of Surgeons
Secretary General of the Egyptian Society for Bariatric Surgery
Founder and President of the Egyptian Society of Hernia and Abdominal Wall Reconstruction (Under Construction)

Abdelrahman Nimeri (USA)
Secretary/Treasurer, IFSO – Past President IFSO MENAC & PASMBS
Associate Professor & Chief, Bariatric Surgery Carolinas Medical Center , Atrium Health
Director, Atrium Health Weight Management, Director, Carolinas Bariatric Fellowship Program
Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Associate editor, Obesity Surgery Journal
He was Chief of Division of General, Thoracic, & Vascular Surgery, Director of Bariatric & Metabolic Institute (BMI) Abu Dhabi, & Surgeon Champion of ACS NSQIP & MBSAQIP at SKMC. In addition, he is the lead surgeon champion for the ACS NSQIP Middle East Collaborative established in 2016. He is an adjunct staff at the Cleveland Clinic’s Endocrine and Metabolic Institute in Cleveland Ohio and an Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at the UAE University. Dr Nimeri was Associate Program director of the first ACGME-I accredited Surgery Residency Program in the Middle East at SKMC in Abu Dhabi and the Fellowship program director for the MIS and Bariatric surgery fellowship program at SKMC. Dr Nimeri is the Secretary – Treasurer of the International Federation for Surgery of Obesity’s (IFSO) Communication committee, and Past President of PASMBS (the Pan Arab Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery 2017.

Tahir Yunus (Pakistan)
MBBS DABS FACS FASMBS; Consultant surgeon for Advanced Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery. He graduated from King Edward University, Lahore, and trained at the William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan where he completed the American Board of Surgery certification (DABS). He pursued advanced sub-specialty training in advanced laparoscopic and bariatric surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and then completed the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM). He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and a Fellow of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (FASMBS). He has presented at multiple international surgical meetings and is actively engaged with regional surgical societies in the training of other surgeons. He is an expert bariatric surgeon and master trainer for laparoscopic surgery. He is currently the ‘Vice-Chair’ on the training committee for the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) chapter of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and actively conducts training seminars at different academic hospitals.