GI Dynamics, a medical device company that has commercialized EndoBarrier in Europe, the Middle East and South America for patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity, announced additional members of the GI Dynamics Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), bringing together distinguished physicians and scientists specializing in endocrinology, gastroenterology and bariatric/metabolic surgery. Manoel Galvao Neto, M.D., and David E. Cummings, M.D., have joined the GI Dynamics SAB.

The GI Dynamics SAB was created to further advance the body of evidence regarding EndoBarrier, ask and answer relevant questions about treatment using EndoBarrier, and advance the state of patient care with EndoBarrier. The SAB will serve as a vital resource to GI Dynamics during its Investigational Device Exemption clinical trial of EndoBarrier in the United States, and will support ongoing clinical studies and commercialization in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Middle East and select European countries.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Galvao and Dr. Cummings join the GI Dynamics SAB,” said Scott Schorer, GI Dynamics president and CEO. “Dr. Galvao performed the first-in-human EndoBarrier procedures, and possesses a rich understanding of the development history of EndoBarrier. Dr. Cummings’ is a highly analytical endocrinologist who has a keen interest in the mechanisms of action of type 2 diabetes and EndoBarrier.”

Dr. Galvao is a clinical associate professor at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, and Affiliate Professor of Surgery at ABC College of Medicine in Canto Andrew in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Galvao will earn his Ph.D. at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, in 2018 for his thesis on endoscopic treatment of sleeve gastrectomy leaks.

Dr. Galvao is a board-certified specialist in digestive surgery, gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy with a vast understanding of bariatric endoscopy. He holds multiple positions focused on aiding in the understanding and improvement of quality patient care through bariatric endoscopy.

“Since my first-in-human EndoBarrier implant in 2005, I have seen the health benefit it offers to patients in need of an alternative treatment,” said Galvao. “I truly believe EndoBarrier fills the existing type 2 diabetes treatment gap.”

Dr. Cummings is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington, based at the Diabetes & Obesity Center of Excellence and the V.A. Puget Sound Health Care System. He studies the hormonal and neurochemical pathways that regulate appetite, body weight and glucose homeostasis by using experiments ranging from bench science to clinical investigation. A major current focus of his research is to elucidate endocrine mechanisms that mediate the profound effects of bariatric/metabolic surgery on diabetes and body weight, as well as to determine the role of surgery in diabetes care through randomized clinical trials.

Dr. Cummings is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, where he majored in biochemistry. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers—the highest award conferred by the US government to researchers in their early independent careers.

“I’m very excited to join the team at GI Dynamics and help move EndoBarrier forward,” said Cummings. “This novel device has strong potential to recapitulate some of the magic of bariatric/metabolic operations for type 2 diabetes and obesity without the invasiveness of surgery.”