Dr Mark Smith

Consultant Laparoscopic Bariatric and General Surgeon:

• Mercy Hospital, Dunedin
• Southern Cross Hospital, Invercargill
• Southland Hospital, Invercargill

Dr Smith is a Consultant General Surgeon with specialist training and experience in laparoscopic weight loss surgery and other advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Dr Smith completed medical school and specialty General Surgical training in New Zealand.  He was convocated as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2005.  Following his General Surgical specialty training he undertook further formal specialty training in surgery of the liver and bile ducts in Edinburgh, Scotland; and Bariatric and Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery in Oregon, USA.  He also completed a Master of Medical Science Degree in evidence based medicine.

After this, Dr Smith worked in the USA for two years as a specialist bariatric surgeon at Oregon Weight Loss Surgery, at a certified bariatric center of excellence.  During this time he also participated as a researcher in the LABS consortium, one of the largest mutli-centre research groups in bariatric surgery.

In 2011, Dr Smith chose to return to New Zealand to raise his family and to establish the bariatric surgery program at Southland Hospital.  He has conducted extensive research in to improving the safety of bariatric surgery and published multiple peer reviewed articles and book chapters.  These include ‘Surgical options for failed laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding' in the upcoming American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery textbook.

Dr Smith offers laparoscopic gastric bypass, gastric sleeve and gastric banding as options for weight loss surgery as well as laparoscopic cholcyestectomy, fundoplication for gastro-oesophageal reflux and laparoscopic and open hernia repairs.  He consults in both Dunedin and Invercargill and operates at Mercy Hospital, Dunedin and Southern Cross Hospital, Incercargill.

Dr Smith is also a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Otago and a member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the Obesity Surgery Society of Australia and New Zealand, and OraTaiao - The New Zealand Climate and Health Council.

Dr Smith is the proud father of two beautiful girls and enjoys cycling, skiing and surfing in his spare time.