Dr. Thompson is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is a world-renowned interventional endoscopist. Highly regarded as the father of bariatric endoscopy, Dr. Thompson invented several minimally invasive, non-surgical weight loss procedures. He currently serves in several leadership roles including the Director of Endoscopy and Co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. 

Clinical Expertise

Dr. Thompson is an international leader in the field of bariatric endoscopy. In 2003, as a fellow at Harvard Medical School, he developed and subsequently patented the methods for performing non-surgical endoscopic suturing for the treatment of obesity, including endoscopic revision of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). In 2008, Dr. Thompson began clinical development of the Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) stomach tightening procedure. This culminated in his performing the first ESG cases in the world, with the current technology, in 2012. This procedure was recently approved by the FDA in 2021 and is now widely performed under various names. To date, he has performed over 6,000 endoscopic weight loss procedures with a broad international referral base. 

Research, Lectures and Training 

In addition to developing and studying new procedures, Dr. Thompson has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of 69 (on google scholar) and has served as the Principal Investigator for several U.S. Pivotal Clinical Trials resulting in numerous medical device approvals. He has received numerous government and societal grants and serves as the Principal Investigator of Developmental Endoscopy Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. He has given over 400 academic lectures and live procedure demonstrations in over 20 countries, including several honorary and named lectures. To date, Dr. Thompson has trained over 50 advanced and bariatric endoscopy fellows, several of whom are thought leaders at major academic institutions across the country (Baylor, Cedars Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, Emory, Harvard University, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, University of Michigan, University of California San Francisco, University of North Carolina, University of Illinois, Vanderbilt and Washington University of St. Louis). Additionally, one became 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 Distinguished Endoscopic Research Mentoring Award from the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the largest endoscopy society in North America.

Leadership

Dr. Thompson founded and chaired the Association of Bariatric Endoscopy (ABE), the largest bariatric endoscopy society in North America. He also was a founding member of the bariatric endoscopy committee of International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) and a founding chair of the endoscopic surgery committee of the American Foregut Society (AFS). Currently, he serves on the Governing Board of ASGE and serves as the Editor in Chief for iGIE (an official journal of ASGE). He is a Fellow of ASGE, American Gastrointestinal Association, American College of Gastroenterology and Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society. 

Education

Dr. Thompson received his medical degree from Penn State University, where he also completed his Internal Medicine Residency and General Gastroenterology fellowship. He was an NIH clinical scholar and obtained the Master of Science. He then completed Advanced Endoscopy fellowship at the Harvard-combined program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.