Professor Christopher Thompson is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Director of Endoscopy and Co-Director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), is Principal Investigator of the Developmental Endoscopy Lab and serves on the HMS admissions committee. 

He operates on the Governing Board of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), and is Editor-in-Chief for iGIE, the society’s new open access journal. Dr. Thompson’s academic and clinical efforts have consistently focused on three main areas (1) obesity and metabolic disease, (2) development of new endosurgical procedures and technologies, and (3) endoscopic training and assessment. He has invented numerous procedures, including Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG), Transoral Outlet Reduction (TORe), and Gastroplasty with Endoscopic Myotomy (GEM), and he has led several US pivotal trials. These projects have resulted in substantial Department of Defense and societal funding, numerous patents, the development and licensing of new technologies, over 250 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of over 60, various innovation awards, and five successful start-up companies. He has served on advisory boards for industry partners, insurance companies, and investment banks, and has cofounded several societal ventures including the Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research (NOSCAR) and the Association for Bariatric Endoscopy (ABE). He has also mentored a diverse group of trainees who have gone on to leadership roles in major US and international academic centres, with one becoming a White House Fellow and another Chief Medical Officer for a Fortune 500 medical device company. Dr. Thompson recently had the honor of receiving the ASGE’s highest mentoring award, the Distinguished Endoscopic Research Mentoring Award. He also has been credited with being the founding father of the field of Bariatric Endoscopy, among other accolades. Clinically, Dr. Thompson reorganised and expanded the interventional endoscopy service at BWH to become one of the only units in the US to offer all available endoscopic therapies, and the only US centre with World Endoscopy Organization (WEO) Center of Excellence Status. As Director of Endoscopy of a multi-unit system he has overseen the renovation of a large hospital-based endoscopy unit, led through the complexities of COVID, and put forth initiatives that have yielded higher case volume, increased revenue, and less reliance on overtime. Additionally, as Co-director for the Center for Weight Management and Wellness Dr. Thompson was instrumental in creating a multidisciplinary service line from numerous silos, including the development of multidisciplinary clinics, joint clinical conferences, and shared research meetings. Clinical volume and revenue have significantly increased with the new structure, and the centre continues to grow. In summary, Dr. Thompson’s body of work comprises procedure and technology development, academic publications, start-up companies, training and mentoring, societal leadership roles, and clinical program development. These accomplishments have touched many lives across the US and internationally, and he has numerous active programs that hold promise for years to come.