WEBINAR SERIES - PART 1 OF 4

Stephen A. Glazer, MD, FRCP(C), FCCP
Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine
President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons
Medical Director Bariatric Surgical Program, Humber River Regional Hospital
Assistant Professor-Department of Medicine, Queen's University
Toronto, ON

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.

John Hagen, MD, FRCS(C)
Assistant Professor of Surgery
University of Toronto
Minimally Invasive Surgery Group
Chief of Staff, Humber River Hospital
Surgical Director Bariatric Surgery
Toronto, ON

John Hagen is the Chief of Surgery at the Humber River Hospital. Humber River Hospital performs 640 bariatric cases every year. John graduated from University of Edmonton in 1979 and completed training in General Surgery in 1984 at the University of Toronto. He has been on staff at Humber River Hospital since 1985.

Laurent Biertho, MD
Université Laval, 
Département de Chirurgie
Institut de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec
Quebec City, QC

Dr. Laurent Biertho is Clinical Professor of Surgery at Laval University. After being trained in Biomedical Sciences (1993) and Medicine (1998) at the University of Liege, Belgium, he completed his residency in General Surgery (2004). He underwent post-doctoral training in Minimally Invasive surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, USA, and McMaster University, Canada (2004-2006). At the end of his training, he was appointed Assistant Professor at McMaster University. He was then offered a position as an Associate Professor of Surgery at Laval University, to introduce minimally invasive bariatric and metabolic surgery at the Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et Pneumologie de Québec. He is the director of the fellowship program in Bariatric and Metabolic surgery at Laval University and co-director of the Research Chair in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery. He is also the immediate Past President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons.

John Hagen, MD, FRCS(C)
Assistant Professor of Surgery
University of Toronto
Minimally Invasive Surgery Group
Chief of Staff, Humber River Hospital
Surgical Director Bariatric Surgery
Toronto, ON

John Hagen is the Chief of Surgery at the Humber River Hospital. Humber River Hospital performs 640 bariatric cases every year. John graduated from University of Edmonton in 1979 and completed training in General Surgery in 1984 at the University of Toronto. He has been on staff at Humber River Hospital since 1985.

Lazar Klein, MD, FRCS(C)
Division Head, General Surgery, Humber River Hospital
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Toronto, ON

Dr. Lazar Klein graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto in 1996. He then went on to complete a residency program in General Surgery at U of T. During this training he spent two years in the Surgical Scientist Program completing a Masters degree with Dr. Tom Lindsay as his supervisor. His research focussed on the effect of cytokines on the acute inflammatory process. Shortly after returning to clinical training he developed a keen interest in laparoscopic surgery. In 2002 he began a one year fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery at St. Michael's hospital in Toronto. Dr. Klein then took a staff position at Humber River Regional Hospital. He is now actively involved in the University of Toronto's MIS training program as well as proving an MIS rotation for the Surgical Oncology fellowship program. In 2004 Dr. Klein converted the existing bariatric surgery program at Humber into a completely laparoscopic program. In 2007 this program received independent funding form the Government of Ontario and has now grown to 400 cases per year and will soon be part of a larger University of Toronto bariatric initiative. Dr. Klein also currently serves as Division Head for General Surgery at Humber River Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto.

Amy Neville, MDCM, MSc (Epi), FRCSC
Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Ottawa
Director, The Ottawa Hospital Bariatric Centre of Excellence
Ottawa, ON

Dr. Amy Neville completed her residency training in general surgery as well as fellowships in Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatric Surgery at McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Neville currently practices general, minimally invasive and bariatric surgery at The Ottawa Hospital - Civic Campus in Ottawa, Ontario. She is surgeon at The Ottawa Hospital and assistant professor of surgery, University of Ottawa. Dr. Neville is Medical Director of The Ottawa Hospital Regional Bariatric Centre of Excellence and a board member of the provincial Ontario Bariatric Network. 

Alfons Pomp, MD, FACS, FRCSC
Professor of Surgery, Digestive Surgery Service
Medical Director, Health Technology Assessment Unit
Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) 
Montréal, QC

Dr. Alfons Pomp is an internationally recognized expert in performing and teaching advanced laparoscopic surgical techniques. He is a graduate of McGill University and the Université de Sherbooke. He completed his surgical training at the University of Montreal and Brown University in Rhode Island and practiced in Montreal (Hotel Dieu) for a decade before relocating to New York city – the Mount Sinai Hospital and then the Weill Cornell/New York Presbyterian where he became the Chief of GI, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the endowed Leon C. Hirsch Professor of Surgery and the Vice-Chairman of the Department of Surgery. He recently returned to Montreal where he is a Professor of Surgery and assistant to the Director of Professional Services and Director of Health Technology Assessment for the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montreal (CHUM).  

Dr. Pomp has written more than 160 PubMed cited articles, 30 book chapters and has been a speaker at over 250 national and international meetings.  He was funded as a Principal Investigator in NIDDK/NIH Bariatric Surgery Research - LABS (Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery). He is member of several surgical societies, including the American Surgical Association. He has served on the executive boards of SAGES and ASMBS and served on the Editorial board of SOARD and Obesity Surgery. 

He has been frequently named as one of Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors; won the SAGES Clinical Excellence Award (now the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Excellence in Humanistic Clinical Care Award) in 2013 and was honored as an ASMBS “Thirty Members Who Made a Difference 1983-2013”.

Stephen A. Glazer, MD, FRCP(C), FCCP
Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine
President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons
Medical Director Bariatric Surgical Program, Humber River Regional Hospital
Assistant Professor-Department of Medicine, Queen's University
Toronto, ON

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.