Professor Francesco Rubino is a world-leading metabolic surgeon and pioneer of new surgical treatment methods for type 2 diabetes.
Professor Rubino’s research showed that the anti-diabetes effect of certain bariatric procedures, particularly gastric bypass surgery, results from mechanisms beyond weight loss. This evidence provided a scientific rationale for the surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes, including that of less obese patients. Professor Rubino’s research findings and theories also point to the role of the gastrointestinal tract in the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity. His clinical expertise includes laparoscopic, bariatric, metabolic and upper digestive surgery, including gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric banding and other novel procedures.
Professor Rubino received his MD and completed his residency in general surgery at the Catholic University / Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy. He completed fellowships in laparoscopic surgery at the European Institute of Telesurgery in Strasbourg, France; Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York NY; and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.
A member of many professional organizations, Professor Rubino is the recipient of numerous awards, has given hundreds of presentations throughout the world, and is the author of seminal publications in peer-reviewed journals and many book chapters.
He conceived and was one of the co-organizers of the landmark Diabetes Surgery Summit in Rome in 2007, an influential scientific event where leading international authorities for the first time reached a consensus on the best candidates for the surgical treatment of diabetes. Professor Rubino also served as Congress Director and main organizer of the first four editions of the World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes in New York City (2008, 2011, 2019) and London (2015), bringing together over 1,000 multidisciplinary diabetes experts from 62 countries.
He also served as chair of the Lancet Commission on Clinical Obesity.
He is Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy.
In 2018 he received the Surgical Innovator Award from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
Prof Rubino has been awarded honorary member of national surgical societies in Spain, Brazil, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. For several consecutive years, Professor Rubino was selected by both US News & World Report and Castle Connolly as one of “America’s Top Doctors” and was selected by Crain’s New York Business as a notable “40 under 40”, which recognizes young rising stars in the healthcare, business, non-profit and entertainment industries.
His work has been featured in mainstream media such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, 60 Minutes on CBS, The Economist, The Guardian, the BBC, Scientific American, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, New Scientist as well as on national TVs and newspapers in Japan, Italy, China, Canada, Qatar, Brazil, South Africa and many other countries.