MD, MBA, FRCSC, FACS

Dr Salman Al-Sabah graduated from Kuwait Medical School. He completed his residency in General Surgery and Fellowship in Minimal Invasive and Bariatric Surgery at McGill University, Canada. He completed a Master of Management and Health Leadership at McGill University, Canada and a Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations at Harvard University, USA. He has contributed to several international presentations as a speaker, moderator, and publication in the field of Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery. He is the President of the Authority for Medical Responsibility (AMR) Kuwait, the past Chairman of Surgery, and the Director of Surgical Research at Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital, Kuwait. He was an associate professor and the Assistant Vice Principal for Research and External Collaboration at Kuwait University. He also is a visiting professor at international universities, including Harvard University's Brigham and Women's Hospital. His principal clinical foci are Metabolic/Bariatric Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Advanced Endoscopy, Medical law, Health Policy, and research.

Additionally, Dr Al-Sabah is on the editorial board and reviewer of international peer-review journals. He is a board member, founder and past President of the Gulf Obesity Surgery Society, founder and past President of the Kuwait Association of Surgeons (KAS), and the past Governor of the American College of Surgeons. He was instrumental in establishing The Women Surgeons Committee in December 2018, representing the interest of the Women Surgeons of Kuwait in the KAS regionally and internationally. Additionally, he established the Kuwait bariatric surgery registry and is a member of the registry committee tasked with establishing a global registry of bariatric surgery for the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO), serves as an editor and peer reviewer of its journal, and is president of first IFSO-MENA conference in Kuwait. The global registry impacts policy and decision-making and furthers research to tackle the burden of obesity. In addition to a growing body of research of 120 publications and 5 books, Dr Al-Sabah’s research has been influential in establishing international guidelines in the fields of gastroenterology and metabolic and bariatric surgery. He is a recipient of multiple research grants and has received over 100 invitations and served as an expert speaker and moderator at conferences worldwide, including as faculty, and organized and presided over numerous national and international conferences. He has developed 2 patents in the field of surgery and basic sciences.

He is also the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Scientific Production Prize from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) for his contributions in the field of Medical Health and Allied Sciences. He was also recognized for his contributions by the IFSO for establishing IFSO-MENA and organizing its first conference. Dr Al-Sabah was instrumental in establishing the Kuwait National Bariatric Registry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Al-Sabah established and led the task force in Kuwait for Gene sequencing at MOH, discovering COVID-19 variants in Kuwait, developing health measures, and headed the multidisciplinary innovative team to design and manufacture efficient and effective low-cost 3-D printed swabs at the peak of the shortage and published his methods that supported the national and international health community. He was also the main contributor to the committee that was influential in establishing the new medical laws in Kuwait that were recently passed in 2020.

Mr Efthimiou undertook his basic surgical training in London and pursued his research interests at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Hammersmith Hospital where he investigated molecular and cellular changes in pancreatic cancer.

He completed his higher surgical training in The Wessex Deanery and developed a specialist interest in upper gastro-intestinal and laparoscopic surgery. He spent his final year of surgical training at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London in Upper gastrointestinal cancer surgery.

Subsequently he obtained a fellowship in laparoscopic bariatric surgery at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada under Professor N. Christou.

He was appointed as a Consultant in General and Bariatric Surgery at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in 2009 until 2021, where he was the lead clinician.

He was Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College.

He has authored many papers both in general surgery and bariatric surgery and has presented in National and International conferences. He has validated the Obesity Surgery Mortality Score (OSMRS) in Canada

Currently he is a consultant in Bariatric and Upper GI Surgery at the University Jaber Al Ahmad Hospital in Kuwait where he maintains a clinical practice in General Surgery, Emergency Surgery, complex Upper GI and complex Bariatric Surgery.

Ricard Corcelles, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in weight-loss surgery, minimally invasive surgery and new technologies and approaches for surgery. He performs a variety of weight-loss procedures including gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, duodenal switch, single anastomosis duodeno–ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S), and revisional weight-loss surgeries.

Dr. Corcelles has expertise in minimally invasive surgical techniques, providing patients with a faster recovery time and less scarring than open surgical methods. He is skilled in the use of surgical robotics including the da Vinci system, which enables surgeons to perform complex and delicate procedures through small incisions.

Before joining the Department of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus in 2021, Dr. Corcelles was a consultant physician in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE. He was also the Director of the Surgical Simulation Center at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Currently, Dr. Corcelles is full Professor of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He is also the Bariatric Surgery Fellowship program director.

Dr. Corcelles completed his fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, in Advanced Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery and his residency at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

He has received national and international recognition for his expertise. In Spain, Dr. Corcelles holds the title of “Expert Surgeon in Bariatric Surgery” issued by the Spanish Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (SECO). This is the most prestigious award that has only been awarded to a few bariatric surgeons in the country. He is also an honorary member of the Argentinian and Mexican Societies for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, based on his body of work and contributions to these organizations. Dr. Corcelles has been awarded as the “Surgeon of Excellence” in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, as endorsed by the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO). As a result of his reputation, both clinically and academically, he has been invited to give over 100 invited lectures at local, national and international meetings.

Dr. Corcelles is reviewer for international scientific journals such as the British Journal of Surgery, Obesity Surgery, Surgical Endoscopy, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care, and Cirugia Española. He has more than 60 publications in peer reviewed journals and is author of several book chapters. Dr. Corcelles is member of ASMBS, SAGES, ACS and IFSO, and serves as board and committee member for SECO, SAGES, and IFSO.

W. Scott Butsch, MD MSc, FTOS
Bariatric and Metabolic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Ohio

Dr. Butsch is an internationally recognized Obesity Medicine physician-educator and policy maker who serves as the Director of Obesity Medicine in the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute (BMI) at the Cleveland Clinic since 2018. He was the first physician in the United States to complete subspecialty fellowship in obesity medicine in 2008 at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital and remained on faculty until 2018. He completed a clinical nutrition fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2007 and is a certified physician nutrition specialist. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and a Fellow of The Obesity Society.

Dr. Butsch‘s clinical interests focus on the medical management of obesity, specifically the use of combination pharmacotherapy in patients with severe obesity, bariatric surgical patients and special populations with severe obesity. He directs medical obesity programs at the BMI and heads clinical research in obesity medicine at the BMI, including clinical trials in obesity pharmacotherapy, and other collaborations on outcomes of bariatric surgery.

Dr. Butsch is a leader in obesity education and has been instrumental in shaping the current state of education and training in the U.S. and abroad. With his initial idea to create core obesity competencies in U.S. medical schools, Dr. Butsch has helped formalize and expand obesity education in undergraduate and graduate medical education. At the Cleveland Clinc, he has expanded advanced training in obesity medicine, creating a subspecialty fellowship in obesity medicine in 2021, an international obesity medicine preceptorship in 2022, and, in 2023, the first obesity medicine fellowship in the U.S. for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Lastly, he has held several past and current leadership roles at Harvard and Cleveland Clinic and The Obesity Society as well as committee roles at the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and the World Obesity Federation. He has authored numerous chapters and manuscripts and has given over 200 lectures nationally and internationally on the management of obesity. His interviews can be found on various television and news outlets including Newsweek, CNN, Fox, NBC Today, ABC News, Forbes, Washington Post and New York magazine.

Matthew Kroh, MD, FACS, FASMBS, FASGE is the Vice Chair of Innovation and Technology in the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is the Division Chief of Foregut Surgery and Surgical Endoscopy in the Department of General Surgery, and Professor of Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He most recently served as Chair, Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, developing clinical, operational, educational, and research programs in the United Arab Emirates. He has previously held the positions of the Program Director for the Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery and Flexible Surgical Endoscopy Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, the Clerkship Director for Surgery in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and the Surgical Director of both the Advanced Endoscopy Center and the Esophageal Center. He has also held the role of Director of the Center for Advanced Skills Training in the Cleveland Clinic Simulation Center. He has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, 30 book chapters, and 3 textbooks. He holds Committee Chair positions in the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and he is a member of the Board of Governors of SAGES. He is a member of the American Surgical Association. He is the current Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Surgical Innovation.