Dr. Prof. Safwan Abdulrahman Taha

• Specialities: Bariatric Surgery

Prof. Taha graduated in 1983, with honours, from Basrah College of Medicine, Iraq, where he became Professor of Surgery, with distinction, in 2000. Prof. Taha also holds the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons of Glasgow, Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons, specialisation Diploma in Laparoscopic Surgery from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France and the Certificate of the Arab Board of Surgery.

He was the first surgeon to win the prestigious 'Fellowship Award' of SAGES twice (and in a row), hw was the founding editor of 'Basrah Journal of Surgery', founding Dean of Thi-Qar College of Medicine, Iraq, and founding member of the Emirates Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Interest Group (EOMSIG, now ESMBS).

Prof. Taha is currently Governor of the UAE Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons (Chicago), member of the International Relations Committee of the American College of Surgeons (Chicago) and Vice President of the Emirates Society for Laparo-Endoscopic Surgeons (ESLES). He is also member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons (ASMBS), Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), International Federation for Surgeons of Obesity (IFSO) and Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia (ELSA).

He is an international speaker and has almost 40 published papers. Prof. Taha holds the positions of Medical Director and Director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Centre, Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital.

Core competencies:

• Bariatric (obesity) surgery: Primary procedures (lap gastric Sleeve, mini-bypass, gastric bypass, gastric band etc) Management of weight regain following obesity surgery (revisional surgery) Management of complications of obesity surgery (acute and chronic) Gastric balloons
• Advanced laparoscopic surgery (anti-reflux surgery, TEP hernia surgery, incisional hernia)
• Single incision laparoscopic surgery (operating through one small non-visible incision)