Wahiba Elhag

Dr. Wahiba Elhag is a senior consultant of Bariatric medicine with the Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery department at Hamad General Hospital. Her clinical emphasis is on the care of patients both pre-and post- Bariatric surgery where she is part of a multidisciplinary obesity management program including medical weight management. 

She established the regional first Bariatric medicine fellowship program in Qatar in 2014 and she is currently the program’s director.

Dr. Wahiba’s key mission is to train Bariatric fellows, primary healthcare physicians and other health care professionals on the latest trends in obesity care and how to counseling patients to prevent and treat obesity linked diseases.  

  

Dr. Wahiba’s research publications are focused on outcomes of bariatric surgery in adolescents, pharmacotherapy for treatment of obesity, and the management of weight regain after bariatric surgery. Her published work also includes research on the respiratory complications in patients with OSA undergoing bariatric surgery. Her active research activities include obesity and gut microbiomes, intensive lifestyle intervention for management of type 2 diabetes, effect of protein supplements on body compositions post bariatric surgery, sleep apnea improvement post bariatric surgery and effect of bariatric surgery on bone health.

Dr. Wahiba was also instrumental in developing Qatar National Guidelines for the management of obesity - published in 2016 - in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health. Before joining HMC, Dr. Wahiba worked as Bariatric consultant in the weight management clinics at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and Saint Alexius Medical Center in Chicago-USA.

She received her American Board certification in Obesity Medicine in 2010 and the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2007. 

Dr. Wahiba completed her Internal Medicine residency training at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital (Chicago, IL - USA) in 2007 after receiving her degree in Medicine & Surgery from the University of Gezira (Wad Madeni - Sudan).

She is an active member of American Medical Association (AMA) ,the American Society of Obesity medicine  and the World Obesity Federation.