| Specialty: | General and Laparoscopic surgeon |
| School Attended: | Addis Ababa University |
Prof. Mitiku Belachew a surgeon of Ethiopian origin has been practicing obesity surgery since 1975. He is one of the pioneer surgeons for laparoscopic surgery. He developed the Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) technique for the treatment of morbid obesity. Surgical workshops have then been organized and Prof. Belachew trained more than 300 surgeons from all over the world on this procedure. He continues to teach LAGB in many places around the World. He has been proctoring FDA approved clinical trial programs of LAGB in more than 15 university centers in the USA since 1995. He has joined Saint Yared General Hospital and now is providing surgical consultation services at the American Medical Center and Samaritan Surgical Center.