Mr Mark Smith

Dr Smith is a Consultant Bariatric and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon at Mercy Hospital & Southern Cross Central Lakes Hospital, with specialist training and extensive experience in laparoscopic upper gastrointestinal and weight loss surgery and other advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Dr Smith completed medical school and specialty General Surgical training in New Zealand. He was convocated as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2005. Following his General Surgical specialty training he undertook further specialty training in surgery of the liver and bile ducts in Edinburgh, Scotland; and Bariatric and Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery in Oregon, USA. He also completed a Master of Medical Science Degree in evidence based medicine.  Following this, Dr Smith worked in the USA for two years as a specialist bariatric surgeon at Oregon Weight Loss Surgery, a certified bariatric center of excellence that undertook more than 500 weight loss operations per year. 

In 2011, Dr Smith chose to return to New Zealand to raise his family and to establish the bariatric surgery program at Southland Hospital, later Southern DHB. In 2018, he relocated to Dunedin Hospital to join the regional team treating cancers of the stomach and oesophagus. He has conducted extensive research into improving the safety of bariatric surgery and published multiple peer reviewed articles and book chapters. These include surgical options for failed laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery textbook. 

In December 2020, Dr Smith resigned from Southern DHB to concentrate on providing the best possible service for patients of his private practice.  

Dr Smith’s current surgical practice involves the application of advanced laparoscopic (keyhole) techniques for weight loss surgery as well as the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux, hernias, and gallstones. Since specialising in 2009, he has performed over 1000 weight loss operations.  Dr Smith is a member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, the Obesity Surgery Society of Australia and New Zealand, and OraTaiao – The New Zealand Climate and Health Council.