Ariel Ortiz MD®, FACS, FASMBS
Medical Director / Director of Bariatric Surgery
”Blessed to bless others.” – Dr. Ariel Ortiz
Dr. Ariel Ortiz is a General Surgeon with a specialty in bariatric surgery. He has almost two decades of experience in the field of advanced weight loss surgeries. He is double board-certified in general surgery and board-certified in bariatric surgery. He holds two professional licenses: a general Mexican Medical License #3181627, as well as a general surgery license (#2526822). Dr. Ariel Ortiz gained a reputation for excellence early in his career as a bariatric surgeon back in 1997, when only a handful of surgeons achieved a specialty in this field. He is also among the very few surgeons that hold the certificate of Master Surgeon of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery by Surgical Review Corporation.
Educator and consultant
Dr. Ariel Ortiz served as a consultant training the first surgeons to perform bariatric surgery and traveled and lectured extensively in the United States and Canada. As a consultant for Inamed Medical, he performed bariatric surgeries in over 100 hospitals in the United States, including Cleveland Clinics, University of Chicago Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, UCLA Medical Center, NYU Hospital, Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill, to name just a few.1, 2, 3, 4
About Dr. Ortiz
Innovator in the development of advanced weight loss treatments
Dr. Ariel Ortiz played a key role in the development and clinical application of implantable medical devices for weight loss surgery known as the Lap-Band System. His research and experience landed him a spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show after performing surgery on the youngest patient ever to undergo a bariatric procedure, setting the foundation for adolescent bariatric surgery to gain FDA approval.
Online lecturer and trainer
Dr. Ariel Ortiz has been named as Director for the first Bariatric Surgery Online Television Channel where he lectures and trains other surgeons in the technical nuances of complex bariatric surgery procedures. Dr. Ariel Ortiz has trained hundreds of young surgeons around the world to perform weight loss surgery safely and effectively. Obesity Control Center, located in Tijuana, Mexico, is a state-of-the-art facility equipped with advanced broadcast capabilities and can transmit live surgical procedures to international meetings and symposiums around the globe.
“Surgeon of Excellence in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery”
Dr. Ariel Ortiz has the honor of being designated as an SRC “Surgeon of Excellence in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery” and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Ariel Ortiz was also the youngest president of the National Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and is currently a full member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity.1, 2, 3, 4
Academic appointments and C-suite appointments
Dr. Ariel Ortiz was named President of Global Communications for IBS at Oxford University, as CEO and Founder of the International Institute of Metabolic Medicine. He also serves as President and CEO of Quo Vadis Productions.
Dr. Ariel Ortiz’s academic appointments include Professor of Surgery and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Autonomous University of Baja California School of Medicine and Professor of Medical-Surgical Nursing at the University Ibero-Americana where he teaches young physicians and surgical nurses the fundamentals of surgery and clinical medicine.
World-renowned bariatric surgeon
As a leader in his field, Dr. Ariel Ortiz is frequently invited as a guest speaker to numerous lectures around the world. He is Director of the Obesity Control Center®, one of the most awarded bariatric hospitals in the world.
Trademarks and patents
He is an innovator in the field of bariatric surgery and holds numerous trademarks and patents. Some of his contributions to the field of bariatrics include setting the foundation for approval by the FDA of weight loss surgery in teenage patients after publishing the results on the largest series of teenagers that had undergone a weight loss procedure.
Meet Dr. Ariel Ortiz | Obesity Control Center
Groundbreaking surgeries
Dr. Ariel Ortiz performed the first banding of a gastric bypass to rescue a failing procedure. He performed and published his early experience that led to it becoming the standard with which failed bypasses are resolved across the globe. His expertise in the bariatric field, as well as his ability to innovate and adapt, helped him design the world’s first weight loss surgery requiring no stapling, re-routing, or device implant and trademarked it as the Stomach Sparing Gastric Sleeve®.
International Center of Excellence
Education
1980-1983
Pre-Medical Education
- Preparatoria Federal Lazaro Cardenas, Tijuana, Mexico
1984-1990
Medical Degree
- Graduated Summa Cum Laude/ Presidential Award for Merit, A.H. Robins Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Facultad de Medicina Graduated
1991
Internship
- Hospital Fray Junipero Serra, ISSSTE, Col, 20 Noviembre, Tijuana, Mexico
1993
General Surgery Residency
- Hospital IMSS Clinica No.20, La Mesa Tijuana, Mexico
1994-1997
- Hospital Regional de Zona, No.1, Centro Médico Nacional del Nororeste, Ciudad Obregón Sonora, Mexico.
1997
Post-Doctoral Training
- Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship, Hospital No. 20 IMSS
Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship, Hospital No. 20 IMSS
1998
- Bariatric Surgery Training Symposium, Hospital Angeles del Pedregal, Cd. Mexico North-west Training Center, Mexican Social Security Institute, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
1999
- Certification in Bariatric Surgery, Mexican Social Security Institute, Tijuana, Baja California, México Hospital Angeles del Pedregal México, Federal District
