Dr. Maria Iliakova is a bariatric and general surgeon experienced in building bariatric and robotic surgery programs. She specializes in improving patient outcomes through technology integration and workflow efficiency She has participated in numerous presentations and interviews on bariatric surgery, medical weight management, program development, robotic surgery, and the use of AI and robotics in improving healthcare access and delivery. She is board-certified in general surgery. She has a patent pending for storage and sorting of surgical instruments. She completed fellowship in Bariatric Minimally Invasive Surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center, NJ. She finished general surgery residency at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She earned her MD at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She completed a Fulbright fellowship in proteomics at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, and an MSc: Biochemistry – Bioinformatics track, Georgetown University. Her undergraduate degrees are in Biology, Chemistry, and Spanish. Dr. Iliakova is a committee member in ASMBS, SAGES, AMA, and OMA.