MIS Fellowship

The Stanford Minimally Invasive Surgery/Bariatrics/Foregut Fellowship provides a one year fellowship offering a wide range of surgical exposure with a unique bariatric surgery experience at an American College of Surgeons certified Bariatric Center of Excellence.

Along with foregut/solid organ/and endoscopic training, the Stanford MIS fellowship has extensive bariatric surgery exposure including laparoscopic gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric banding, and adolescent bariatric surgery. In addition to traditional laparoscopic experience, we also offer natural orifice surgery (Apollo/Esophyx) and single incision surgery (cholecystectomy, splenectomy).  

Beyond this strong surgical experience, the successful applicant will also be given clinical instructor status at one of the most prestigious universities in the country with all the requisite resources including a teaching portfolio and access to an American College of Surgeons Education Institute.

Our former fellows have had success during fellowship winning best fellow presentations at both SAGES and ASMBS as well as placement both in community and academic settings. We are pleased to offer this one-year MIS fellowship at the Stanford Department of Surgery.

Apply

Interested parties can apply for the Fellowship at https://fellowshipcouncil.org/.

Current Fellow

Perisa Ruhi-Williams, MD

Perisa received her bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Virginia and her medical degree from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. She and her husband moved to Southern California from her home state of Virginia where she completed her general surgery training at the UC Irvine Medical Center. As a resident, Perisa received multiple honors, including the Golden Scalpel Award for exemplary teaching and induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Perisa also completed an additional year of training as a Chief Resident in Quality and Patient Safety at the Long Beach VA Medical Center. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her two young daughters and husband. Perisa is very excited to continue her medical training at Stanford as the 2024-2025 MIS/Bariatrics fellow.

Incoming Fellow

Chibueze Nwaiwu, MD

Chibueze Nwaiwu is the incoming 2025–2026 Stanford Minimally Invasive Surgery, Bariatrics, and Foregut Fellow. His clinical interests include bariatric surgery, foregut surgery, complex abdominal wall reconstruction, and surgical endoscopy. His research focuses on medical technology and health equity.

Chibueze previously served as the Surgeon Innovator-in-Residence and a member of the Product Review Board at a medical technology company, where he worked on advanced real-time intraoperative visualization. He is also a co-founder and Senior Director of SURGE (Supporting Underrepresented Research to Generate Equity) Lab at Brown University—a dynamic, multidisciplinary research group that provides structured mentorship and conducts clinical research on social determinants of health and health equity across a wide range of clinical and translational areas.

His research, clinical work, and volunteer efforts—both clinical and non-clinical—have spanned Africa, North America, Europe, and Western Asia. He has presented at multiple local, regional, national, and international conferences and has received numerous research and teaching awards.

Chibueze completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and is currently completing his General Surgery residency at Brown University.

In his free time, he enjoys catching up with friends and family, listening to stories about the human experience, and engaging in personal growth and development. A global citizen at heart, he is passionate about inspiring others to dream big and leverage their resources—both tangible and intangible—to serve humanity. He lives by the maxim: To whom much is given, much is required.

Leadership

Dan Azagury, MD
Program Director

Yulia Zak, MD
Associate Program Director

Contact

Tara Ti
Fellowship Coordinator
tti@stanford.edu
(650) 721-1560