He is also the Director of the Chicago Institute of Advanced Bariatrics where he performs complex bariatric surgery and bariatric endoscopy. Dr Lutfi is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeon and serves on the Executive Council of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery where he Chairs the Private Practice Committee. He earned his medical degree from Syria, from Damascus University and then finished his surgical training at the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed research fellowship followed by a clinical fellowship in bariatric surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.