Dr. Tashjian is a Laparoscopic trained General Surgeon. Training includes Albert Einstein Medical College in New York, Stanford University Medical Center, USC Medical Center and New York Medical College.

Dr. Tashjian has been practicing for 4 years in Los Angeles.

Dr. Gee is a general surgeon for seven years and has extensive training in laparoscopic surgery. He has trained with some of the foremost laparoscopic surgeons, such as James “Butch” Rosser Jr., MD of Mt. Sinai and Nick Gabriel DO, both experts in their field of laparoscopic surgery.

Dr. Gee participated in the Top Gun program offered yearly at the American College of Surgeons Meetings. Dr. Gee has placed in the upper 90th percentile top among 6,000 surgeons nationwide. Dr. Gee is also an US Army contractor providing vacation coverage for Army surgeons currently serving in the Middle East (including: Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia).

Education: University of California, Irvine
Medical School: Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
Residency: St. John Episcopal South Shore
Licensed: California

Certifications:
Allergan certified Lap Band surgeon
Ethicon certified in Hemorrhoidal Stapling
University of California, San Francisco Selective Sentinel Node Breast Surgeon

Atul K. Madan, MD is a world renowned expert in laparoscopic and bariatric program. He started his career in Memphis where he performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass in that city. In addition, he has performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass in a liver transplant patient. He has published over 190 articles. Dr. Madan has performed over 700 laparoscopic gastric bypasses and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedures in his career. He has performed many revisional bariatric procedures and was one of the first to offer an endoscopic treatment (a procedure without any incisions) for weight regain after open and laparoscopic gastric bypass. In 2005, he received Center of Excellence by the Surgical Review Corporation while in Memphis and transferred his designation to the University of Miami where he recently came from. There, he was the Chief of Laparoendoscopic and Bariatric Surgery Division as well as the Director of the Center of Excellence for Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery.

Dr. Madan is a member of all of the important laparoscopic and bariatric societies including American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, and Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. His national expertise was recognized by each society as he is on various committees of these societies. Furthermore, Dr. Madan has received multiple awards during his career including the SAGES Young Investigator Award. Many of his presentations have received honors and awards at the International Federation of Societies for Obesity, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, and Association of Association of Cancer Education.

Dr. Madan is on the editorial board of Obesity Surgery and Bariatric Nursing and Surgical Patient Care. Not only is he considered an expert in bariatric surgery but also laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. In fact, he has written multiple book chapters, one of which includes his video of how to perform a laparoscopic gastric adjustable banding. He has given talks all over the United States as well as in Mexico, South America, India, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Dr. Madan performs Lap Band and Realize Band in all types of patients even adolescent patients, high weight patients, and patients who have had previous abdominal surgeries. Additionally, he performs band procedures on patients who have failed the gastric bypass (either not losing enough weight or gaining weight back). He is one of the first surgeons to offer the band procedure just through one incision.

Dr. Samouha has attended his surgical training at the Los Angeles Country USC, Los Angeles. He also attended the University of California, Irvine and Wyckoff Medical Center in Brooklyn previous to his advance surgical training.

He is an expert in laparoscopic surgery mainly in Bariatric surgery.

Salman A. Khan, MD attended his general surgical training at Huntington Memorial Hospital Pasadena, CA and LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles; CA. Dr. Khan remained actively involved in Bariatric program at LAC+USC Medical center and gained experience in Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding and Patient follow-up for Lap Band adjustments.

During the course of his training Dr. Khan was involved in Multicenter, NIH granted and University based clinical research projects. The efforts of Dr. Khan have already resulted in a number of publications. He co-authored 12 papers in highly reputed medical journals that have been published in Circulation, Am J Cardiology, and Am J Obster Gynecology. Also, his interest in research made him to involve with Master’s program at USC in Regulatory Sciences.

Dr. Farid Zarif, Director of Bariatric Nutrition and Dietetics, Naturopathic Physician and Doctor of Human Nutrition.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Zarif graduated from the American College of Nutrition, Birmingham, Alabama earning a ND and PhD in Naturopathy and Human Nutrition. Later, he continued his post graduate studies and earned a MPH degree with emphasis in clinical nutrition from Glendale University, Western University School of Medicine Patient Standardization Program and at St. Luke University School of Medicine MD/PhD program.

As a practitioner of osteopathic, naturopathic and allopathic medicine, Dr. Zarif developed an affinity for Bariatric Medicine. He has worked with some of the most innovative and renowned Bariatric surgeons to date including Dr. Mathias Fobi and the Fobi medical group, Dr. Carson Lui, UCLA medical group, Oband surgery centers, and Cedars Sinai Institute of Spinal Disorders.

Dr. Zarif has written over 350 published articles including fat-loss, diabetes mellitus II, weight management, food science, alternative medicine and fitness as well as a panoply of related health subjects. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs as an authority on health and nutrition, and is currently sought for keynote speaking. He is a certified naturopathic physician, registered naturopath by the Council of Naturopathic Registration and Accreditation. Dr. Zarif has been associated with many professional organizations and societies including American College of Sports Medicine, American Society for Nutritional Sciences, American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Society for International Nutrition, American Society of Bariatric Physicians, American Medical Association, American Dietetic Association.

Lance Everett Wyatt, M.D., is the Director of the Wyatt Center for Plastic Surgery and the Institut d'Esthetique. He was previously Clinical Fellow in Surgery at the Harvard Medical School and was Chief Resident in the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program. From 1992-1999, he was a resident in the Division of General Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and received his medical degree from the same institution.

Author of six textbook chapters, Dr. Wyatt's abstracts and publications appear in peer-reviewed literature and have been presented at national and international forums. He is recipient of a Lyndon Peer Fellowship (1996), Ralph Goldman Basic Research Award (1996), Best Plastic Surgery Research (1996, UCLA), and an Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (1995).