Prof. Dr. Tahar Benhidjeb received his medical training and deg rees from the Humboldt University of Berlin and completed his General Surgery residency at the CHARITÉ – Medical University Berlin, Europe’s largest University Hospital. Before moving to the UAE and joining Burjeel in 2012, Dr . Tahar, Consultant in the Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf for two years. One of his primary clinical foci is the development and introduction of new minimally invasive procedures in abdominal and thyroid surgery. He is a worldwide leader in innovative scarless natural orifice surgery (NOTES), in particular transvaginal cholecystectomy and transoral thyroidectomy. He is highly renowned for his surgery without visible scars on the abdominal wall and in the neck. Dr. Tahar was the first surgeon in the Middle East to introduce scarless transvaginal surgery for gallbladder, appendix and colon in 2012. As December 2014, Dr. Tahar has performed more than 90 such procedures at Burjeel Hospital. Besides this scarless surgery, his other main field is minimally - invasive surgery for thyroid/parathyroid and colon/rectum disorders for both benign and malignant conditions. Most abdominal surgeries are being performed laparoscopically, e.g. tumors of colon and rectum, appendix, inflammatory bowel disease, stomach, splenic disease, laparoscopic repair of all kinds of hernias. Mini-laparoscopic surgery and SILS (Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery) also belong to his repertoire.

Dr. Tahar is also Director of the New European Surgical Academy in Berlin, Germany where he leads the Natural Or ifice Surgery Project (NOS/NOTES) (www.nesacademy.org). He has published more than 70 peer review journal articles and 20 book chapters. He is the author of more than 220 congress presentations and laureate of an Award of the American Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS). Since July 2014, Dr. Tahar is Adjunct-Professor at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Russia.