Nestor de La Cruz-Muñoz, MD Chief of the Division of Laparoendoscopic and Bariatric Surgery, Co-Director Center of Excellence for Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery in the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery, UM Miller School of Medicine, and Medical Director for Bariatric Surgery at University of Miami Hospital.

University of Miami Hospital Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery is the only university-based bariatric center in the region.

As part of the University of Miami Health System, this Center of Excellence provides leading-edge patient care by the nation’s most acclaimed physicians and offers the latest options for the morbidly obese.

University of Miami Hospital Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery offers two types of bariatric procedures, gastric banding and gastric bypass. Both procedures are performed laparoscopically. Click here for a chart comparing gastric banding and gastric bypass.

University of Miami Hospital carries the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) designation as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence.

The ASMBS Center of Excellence designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.

For a center to receive the Center of Excellence designation the hospital or institution must perform at least 125 bariatric surgeries per year collectively and the surgeon must have performed at least 125 bariatric surgeries him or herself and perform at least 50 per year. The Center must also report long-term patient outcomes and have an on-site inspection to verify all data.

In addition, the Center must have a dedicated multi-disciplinary bariatric team that includes surgeons, nurses, medical consultants, nutritionists, psychologists and exercise physiologists.