Author: Dr. Maria Iliakova is a bariatric and general surgeon. She is passionate about enabling her patients to reach their goals through bariatric care. She believes that qualify of life matters most. Dr. Iliakova is board-certified in General Surgery. To specialize in bariatric surgery, she completed Fellowship in Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey after finishing General Surgery Residency at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. She earned her medical degree at the University of Kansas. Prior to medical school, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in proteomics at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, and a Master's of Science degree in Biochemistry at Georgetown University. Dr. Iliakova is a member of the American College of Surgeons, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the American Medical Association. She lives in Iowa City, Iowa with her husband and her two dogs. ------------------------- Editor Mira Mdivani serves as immigration law counsel to U.S. and multi-national corporations, providing advice, representation, immigration compliance audits and training. She represents employers in IT, engineering, food processing, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance and banking industries, working closely with executives, in-house counsel and HR professionals to ensure corporate immigration compliance and availability of visas for international personnel. Ms. Mdivani has served as President of the Missouri Bar Association's Immigration Law Committee and Chair of the Kansas Bar Association's Immigration Law Section. She has written books and articles on corporate immigration law, and has spoken on business immigration issues before attorneys and business leaders across the United States. Ms. Mdivani's professional work and leadership have been recognized by numerous awards, including the Missouri Bar Association's President Award, Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City President Award, Business Practitioner of the Year by Missouri Lawyers Media, Best of the Bar by the Kansas City Business Journal, Robert Gernon Award for Excellence in Continuous Legal Education, and pro bono recognition from the University of Missouri - Kansas City Law Foundation, the Kansas Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
