Dr. Jose Rodriguez

Dr. José G. Rodríguez Villarreal, graduated in Medicine at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico in 1986. After finishing the three years residency program at the Regional Hospital of the Institute for Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) in 1990, he returned to Cd. Acuña, Coahuila to work in the public sector as Surgeon General and Sub-director in the Ministry of Health´s (SSa) General Hospital. At the same time, he started his private practice in 1991 in “EJEZA” Hospital, a private hospital in Cd. Acuña. He started as pioneer and founder of laparoscopic procedures in the northern part of Mexico in March of 1991, performing surgeries like cholecystectomy, appendicectomy, etc, bringing the first laparoscopic equipment to the private sector. 

In 1992, he was invited to work as director with ISSSTE´s regional hospital in Cd. Acuña. In 1997, the mayor of Cd. Acuña asked him to become Head Chief of the Ministry of Health´s regional office, where he created several public health programs in obesity and infectious diseases.

In 2000, he moved to work as director of Municipal health-care services, a program funded by the government to help minimize local health issues, in here, he started alcohol regulations in the city and “AA” programs, also continue his practice in chronic degenerative diseases like obesity and diabetes, always looking to control the populations critical and costly diseases.

In the meantime, while he was doing public office work, he worked in the private practice, doing general surgery and bariatric surgery. Being one of the pioneers in bariatric surgery in Mexico, he actively participated in the Mexican College of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgeons (at the time it was only an association, not a college) for education advancements and exchange of information between bariatric surgeons.

Because the demand in bariatric surgery was rising, he left his public service but still was invited to work as sub-director in Mexican Social Security Institute´s (IMSS) regional hospital in 2003, where he did mostly general surgery in the hospital. He was mostly focused on his private practice, having operated on more than 8,000 gastric bands in 7 years (2000 - 2007), at the time he also worked on gastric bypass and was one of the pioneers to start working with gastric sleeves in 2004. He worked on both Cd. Acuña and Piedras Negras, Coahuila to have the best medical care in both cities and cover the needs of both borders. He founded and pioneered bariatric surgery clinics in both cities.

In 2007 he changed from Cd. Acuña to Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua to work in the biggest conglomerate hospital with the best healthcare system in the country, Angeles Group Hospitals. He then founded Global Rodzmed S.C. with the intention of being the coordination office for bariatric surgery and all other types of medical surgical services we offer. He became Chief of surgery of the hospital and founded bariatric surgery centers, being the first to have a complete interdisciplinary system in the city. In 2013, he created a sister organization called “Rod Material y Equipo Médico S.A. de C.V.” to help manage the medical equipment and inventory control.

Since 2003 he has been an invited speaker and committee member for CMCOEM, AMCE, AMCG, ASMBS, IFSO, IFSOLAC, LAF. He has given keynotes in Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, United States, and the United Kingdom. He has published in 2015 “Revisional Surgery Following Laparoscopic Gastric Plication” and in 2016 “Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: Results at 10 years”. He serves as a journal reviewer for Obesity Surgery and SOARD. Since 2012 he founded “Educación RM” with the sole purpose to educate fellow bariatric surgeons on his way of work, inside and out of the OR, he has trained more than 170 bariatric surgeons, 30 anesthesiologists, and 80 interdisciplinary personnel.

Today, he has performed more than 30,000 surgeries in bariatric surgery alone, and an average of more than 10,000 other types of surgeries.He is the President of the Mexican College of Obesity Surgery and Metabolic Diseases (CMCOEM) Director of Chapter 12 of the book: “Nutritional management and supplementation in bariatric surgery. Clinical practice guide”.