LAUSR

Maurizio De Luca is chief surgeon and head of the departments of thoracic, abdominal, and metabolic surgery at the Hospital of Montebelluna and the Hospital of Castelfranco in Italy’s Veneto region. He specializes in minimally invasive techniques and spearheaded and helped standardize laparoscopic gastric banding procedures when they were still popular around the world. The departments he oversees perform bariatric-metabolic surgeries and minimally invasive thoracic and abdominal surgeries to address neoplasms and organ problems. He and his team also perform emergency and trauma surgeries. Dr. De Luca obtained his medical degree at the University Federico II of Naples followed by his residency in surgical oncology. He went on to complete his minimally invasive bariatric-metabolic surgery training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and at the Hospital Saint-Pierre in Brussels. He earned a master’s degree in bariatric-metabolic surgery at the University Federico II of Naples, graduating summa cum laude. Dr. De Luca performed his first surgery to treat obesity, a gastric banding procedure, in 1993, and soon standardized the laparoscopic approach. He also was a leader in developing 1day surgery and single-incision surgery protocols. His current surgical practice includes laparoscopic gastric banding, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, laparoscopic gastric bypass, laparoscopic one anastomosis gastric bypass, laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion, laparoscopic BPD-DS, and laparoscopic revisional surgery. Dr. De Luca has been involved in study protocols on gastric bandings, gastric pacemakers, and intragastric double balloon procedures. He is currently the coordinator of multicenter study protocols for two innovative interventions: SAGI (Single Anastomosis Gastro-Ileal), a MGB/OAGB malabsorptive variant, and SAJI (Single Anastomosis Jejuno-Ileal), which is a malabsorptive procedure indicated in cases of bypass failure. Dr. De Luca has performed more than 7000 bariatricmetabolic procedures, including many restoration, revision, and conversion surgeries. He is an affiliated tutor at the University of Padova, University of Verona and Italian Society of Surgery, where he helps train medical students. At these institutions, he coordinates bariatric surgery courses (especially revision surgery). He is also professor of the MGB-OAGB European Club. The obesity centers he directs have been certified “Centers of Excellence” by the Italian Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery and Weight Related Disease (SICOB). Since 2008, he has served on the board of SICOB as secretary, IFSO delegate, and vice president. One of the most remarkable accomplishments of his career was the establishment of an effective follow-up programme for bariatric/metabolic surgery. In conjunction with a network of surgeons, nutritionists, and psychologists in different main cities throughout Italy, he succeeded in achieving a remarkable 80% patient follow-up at 10 years. He published these results. Dr. De Luca is the author of 240 scientific articles. He serves on the editorial board of “Obesity Surgery” and “Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.” He has authored and directed SICOB’s 2008 and 2016 Italian guidelines on bariatric and metabolic procedures and now is working as coordinator on the 2021 Italian guidelines. * Maurizio De Luca [email protected]