ASMBS Leadership Academy

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Neil Ihde, BA MA

Neil Ihde is a speaker, lecturer, consultant and founder of Life IQ where he motivates groups and individuals to work, play, relate and live intelligently. He has worked with numerous managers, directors, corporate leaders, and teams to improve their personal and professional effectiveness. Neil has worked with over 25 Fortune 500 companies including AT&T, Discover Card, Domino’s, Transamerica, GE among others. Neil has also consulted internationally with clients from a dozen countries. He is a TEDx speaker and his Life IQ YouTube channel recently eclipsed a half-million views. Neil’s academic background includes a B.A. in Psychology, a B.A. in Sociology, and a MA in Counseling. Neil and his wife Deb have two children and live in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Shaniece Criss, ScD MPH MPA

Dr. Shaniece Criss is a multifaceted, enthusiastic leader who works in the areas of higher education, research, government, and health media. In academia, she is an Associate Professor in the Health Sciences Department at Furman University and a community-engaged qualitative researcher addressing health equity and health communication. As a founding member of the Big Data for Health Equity Research Collaborative, she works with university researchers from across the U.S. to investigate how societal issues impact health. At Furman, she partners with the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health and serves as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach.

Dr. Criss is an elected official on Travelers Rest City Council and serves on the board of directors for Prisma Health and South Carolina Hospital Association. She also serves as a community advisor for the Jolley Foundation and Greenville County Schools. Most recently, she created the @DrShaniece Instagram account to educate others about public health. For her professional and community endeavors, she was recognized as one of eleven leaders from across the state with the “Women Vision SC” Award from ETV. In addition, she was named a “ChangeMaker” by Multiplying Good, inducted into the Greenville County Schools Hall of Fame, and received the UNCF Mayors’ Ball Community Award.

With a passion to implement effective interventions and policies, she earned her doctorate from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was awarded a Presidential Public Service Fellowship. She has a Master of Public Health from Emory University and an undergraduate degree in communication from Oglethorpe University. As a public health practitioner, Dr. Criss served as producer and host for a national television show for the Ministry of Health in Guyana during her Peace Corps service. She also held positions at ICF International, Centers for Disease Control, and CNN.

Marina Kurian, MD FACS DABOM DABS FASMBS

ASMBS President

Marina Kurian, MD has dedicated a significant part of her professional life to the treatment of obesity and making surgery less painful with minimally invasive techniques.

In addition to treating patients, Dr. Kurian has educated other surgeons in New York City and throughout the country, and has published numerous articles on minimally invasive surgery. In her practice, she offers numerous alternatives for morbidly obese individuals. These include minimally invasive gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, LAP-BAND® Adjustable Gastric Band, biliopancreatic diversion and revisional procedures. All with an emphasis on lowering post operative discomfort and accelerating recovery.

Dr. Kurian continues to be an innovator in the field of obesity and minimally invasive surgery in New York City. She was a principal investigator for the use of the adjustable band for the treatment of morbid obesity and co-investigator on the use of vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of obesity. Dr. Kurian has presented articles, made television appearances, given talks throughout the world, and hosts a weekly show on SiriusXM. She also wrote Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies, an authoritative guide to the benefits of weight loss surgery that includes a forward from her patient Al Roker. She is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is a member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). She is also a member of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery and the Association of Women Surgeons. She also has numerous publications and book chapters in laparoscopic literature.

Shanu Kothari, MD FACS FASMBS

ASMBS Senior Past President

Dr. Kothari served as the President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery from 2021-2022. He is the Jean and H. Harlan Stone Endowed Chair of Surgery at Prisma Health in Greenville, SC. He is a Professor of Surgery at the University of South Carolina, Greenville. Prior to this he was in practice for 18 years at the Gundersen Clinic in La Crosse, WI. Dr. Kothari has authored over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 18 book chapters, and has served as the senior editor of the 2011 and 2021 Surgical Clinics of North America issues dedicated to Metabolic and Bariatric surgery. He is currently the President of the Southwestern Surgical Congress and 1st Vice President of the Fellowship Council.

Matt Hutter, MD MBA MPH

Dr. Hutter is a general and gastrointestinal surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where his clinical work focuses on advanced laparoscopic, foregut and bariatric surgery. He is a Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He earned a Master’s in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Master’s in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the Director of the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery and has been the Director of the MGH Weight Center for the past 7 years. He also serves as an executive director of the MGH Department of Surgery Quality and Safety Program.

Monique Hassan, MD MBA FACS DABOM FASMBS

Monique Hassan, MD, is a bariatric surgeon and an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at The Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Hassan completed her undergraduate degree at Northwestern University and master’s degree in Biological Sciences at Drexel University. She was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army and obtained her Doctor of Medicine from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences before completing her general surgery residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA, in 2012. As an Army surgeon, Dr. Hassan was initially stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, and later deployed to Afghanistan with a forward surgical unit. She then moved to Fort Sill, OK where she served as the Medical Director for the Bariatric Surgery Program from 2013 to 2017. Dr. Hassan went on to complete two additional deployment tours to Iraq and Syria while serving in the Army.

After her 2017 honorable discharge from the Army, Dr. Hassan completed her fellowship in Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery at Cleveland Clinic. She then joined the Baylor Scott and White Department of Surgery in Temple, TX, where she focuses on the treatment and management of obesity. Dr. Hassan specializes in laparoscopic and robotic minimally invasive and revisional surgical procedures, such as sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, duodenal switch, endoscopy, and the placement of intragastric balloons.

Dr. Hassan has been published in multiple peer-reviewed surgical journals and has presented her work at numerous national meetings. Additional accolades include certification by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Obesity Medicine, as well as Focus Practice Designation for Bariatric Surgery by the American Board of Surgery. She is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Hassan also holds a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus in Health Care Quality from The George Washington University School of Business.

Dr. Hassan is married and enjoys spending time with her family traveling the world. She is an avid fan of fitness, crushing her Peloton rides and participating in CrossFit workouts.

Matt Norvell, DMin MS BCC

Rev. Matt Norvell is a Pediatric Chaplain and Clinical Manager in the Department of Spiritual Care at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a Board Certified Chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains and is a Certified Counselor through the National Board of Certified Counselors. Matt currently leads the Children’s Center Annual Tribute Service, serves on the hospital Diversity Council, and is the education chair for the Johns Hopkins Hospital ethics committee. He provides leadership support for the Johns Hopkins Hospital RISE (Resilience In Stressful Events) Team. Matt is one of the co-developers and presenters of the Caring for the Caregiver curriculum which assists other health care institutions to establish their own peer support programs.

John Scott, MD FASMBS

Dr. Scott is a Clinical Professor of Surgery with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Director for the bariatric surgical program of Prisma Health. He also serves as the Chief for the Division of Minimal Access and Bariatric Surgery for the Prisma Health Department of Surgery, the assistant program director for Prisma Health Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) fellowship program, and the medical director for Nutrition Solutions. The scope of his research has centered new technology and comorbidity reduction as well as studies on access to bariatric care. He is currently on the board of directors for the ObesityPAC. Dr. Scott is board-certified in General Surgery by the American Board of Surgery and active in the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Southeastern Surgical Congress, and ASMBS. He is a fellow of the ACS and the ASMBS.