Conference Program

Alfons Pomp, MD, FRCSC, FACS
Assistant to the Director
Department of Medical and University Affairs 
Health Technology Assessment and Intervention Methods Unit
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de l'Université de Montréal
Montréal, QC

Dr. Pomp is an internationally recognized expert in performing and teaching advanced laparoscopic surgery. He graduated McGill University (BSc), Université de Sherbooke (MD) and completed his surgical training at the Université de Montréal and Brown University, Rhode Island. He practiced at Hotel Dieu in Montréal before moving to New York City where he was Chief of GI, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the endowed Leon Hirsch Professor of Surgery and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. He recently returned to Montréal where he evaluates new technologies for the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). 

Michel Gagner, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FASMBS
Professor of Surgery, Herbert Wertheim School of Medicine, FIU
Senior Consultant, Hôpital du Sacre Coeur
Montreal, Quebec

Dr. Michel Gagner obtained his Medical Degree in 1982 and did his surgical training at McGill University from 1982-1988. He worked at the Cleveland Clinic where he co-founded the MIS Center (1995-1998). He was appointed Director of the MIS Center of Mount Sinai (NY), from 1998 to 2003. He then joined Weill-Cornell as Chief of Laparoscopic/Bariatric (2003-2007). He was Chair of Surgery at Mount Sinai (Miami), and is currently Professor at FIU, and senior consultant Montreal. In 2014, he founded WWO (World Without Obesity), for the education and development of metabolic surgery in Third World countries. He is also a board member of ASMBS foundation.

Dr. Gagner is known for his contributions in MIS, in particular the first description of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (1992), laparoscopic pancreatectomy (distal/proximal) (1992-93), endoscopic neck surgery with parathyroidectomy in 1995, transgastric cholecystectomy in 1997 (NOTES), laparoscopic DS in 1999 and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in 2000.

Michael Vallis, PhD, R. Psych
Associate Professor, Family Medicine
Dalhousie University
Health Behaviour Change Consultant
Halifax, NS

Dr. Vallis is a registered health psychologist based in Halifax, Canada. He is a Health Behaviour Change Consultant and Associate Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.A from the University of Western Ontario, London, and his B. Sc. From Dalhousie University. His main area of expertise is adult health psychology, with an emphasis on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk and gastroenterology. He has worked in the public health system for 35 years, where he developed the Behaviour Change Institute, and is now working as a consultant and doing private practice. He spends most of his time training healthcare providers in behaviour change for chronic disease management. He regularly supervises clinical and academic students at Dalhousie and is active in research on motivation, behavioural change and adaptation to chronic disease. He consults nationally as well as internationally and is heavily involved in academic publications, journal editing, and clinical practice guidelines. He is on the executive of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Obesity (in preparation) and is an author of the Behavioural Chapter for these new guidelines as well as the 2006 guidelines. As well, he is an author of the Psychology and Mental Health chapter of Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (2018, 2013, 2004). He was recently awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada on the recommendation of the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Presentation Overview

This session will address the complex relationship between cognitive dysfunction and obesity. Cognitive dysfunction will be understood as involving structural (brain function) components as well as functional (perceived impulses, attitudes, beliefs) components. The link between obesity and cognitive dysfunction will be described from the perspective of risk factors for developing obesity as well as deficits associated with obesity. Finally, potential interventions, informed my cognitive dysfunction, will be described.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this presentation, participants should be able to:

• Describe the nature of cognitive processes that contribute to the development of obesity
• Describe the cognitive structures that impair behavioural control in an obesogenic environment
• Describe the cognitive structures negatively impacted by obesity

Stephen A. Glazer, MD, FRCP(C), FCCP
Internal Medicine
Critical Care Medicine
Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine

Medical Director, Bariatric Surgical Program
Humber River Regional Hospital
American College of Surgeons Level 1 Accredited Bariatric Center of Excellence

Medical Director, Greater Toronto Area Medical Bariatric Program
Humber River Regional Hospital/University Health Network

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Queen's University

Lecturer, Department of Internal Medicine
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario

Dr. Stephen Glazer is a board certified specialist from the University of Toronto in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine. He is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. In April 2010 he was appointed as the Medical Director for the Bariatric Surgical Program at Humber River Regional Hospital. He was instrumental in redeveloping their comprehensive bariatric surgical program. In that year, the bariatric surgical program was nominated as a Leading Practice by Accreditation Canada. In 2012 Dr. Glazer was appointed as a the Director of the only hospital-based Medical Bariatric Program for the Greater Toronto Area, which has enjoyed great growth and development due to the significant contributions of its multidiscipline team members. Dr. Glazer's commitment to the Obesity Epidemic is further displayed by his participation in many committees through the Ontario Bariatric Network and the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons. He has a strong interest in program development, quality care initiatives, and physician education. He has personally been involved in direct patient care of over thousands of bariatric patients in the attempt to facilitate weight loss for improved overall health. His research interests include perioperative risk assessment and management as well as sleep apnea in the morbidly obese. He is also the president of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons.