Source-cited record
Verified Credentials, Appointments & Accreditations
A single, source-cited record of every professional certification, academic appointment, institutional accreditation, award, and registered trademark referenced across this site.
Last reviewed: January 2026
Licensure & specialty certifications
Medical license
Cédula Profesional — Médico Cirujano. Issued by the Dirección General de Profesiones, Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP), Mexico.
Specialty certification — General Surgery
Consejo Mexicano de Cirugía General, A.C.
Specialty certification — Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery
Colegio Mexicano de Cirugía para la Obesidad y Enfermedades Metabólicas (CMCOEM).
Source: CMCOEM ↗
Fellowships & professional designations
FACS — Fellow, American College of Surgeons
American College of Surgeons.
Source: ACS ↗
FASMBS — Fellow, American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery
American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.
Source: ASMBS ↗
SRC Surgeon / Master Surgeon of Excellence — Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery
Surgical Review Corporation designation.
Source: SRC ↗
Academic & leadership appointments
Medical Director & Director of Bariatric Surgery
Obesity Control Center® (OCC), Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico — 2003–present.
Source: OCC — Our Team ↗
Professor of General Surgery & Clinical Medicine
Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) — 2000–present.
Professor of Bariatric Surgery
Hospital CYNTAR®, Tijuana — 2002–present.
Source: Hospital CYNTAR® ↗
Board of Directors
Colegio Mexicano de Cirugía para la Obesidad y Enfermedades Metabólicas — 2001–present.
Co-Director
IBC–Oxford University Congress — 2017–present.
Source: International Bariatric Club ↗
President, Global Communications
International Bariatric Club / IBC-TV — 2013–present.
Institutional accreditations
SRC Center of Excellence in Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery
Obesity Control Center® — Surgical Review Corporation accreditation (2010).
Source: Surgical Review Corporation ↗
OCC–UCSD academic partnership
Institute for Innovation in Metabolic Medicine (IIMM) — partnership with UC San Diego Department of Surgery (2022).
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune ↗
Awards & honors
A.H. Robbins Prize for Academic Excellence (1992)
Presented by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Paseo de la Fama, Tijuana Innovadora (2016)
Inducted among Tijuana's distinguished personalities in science and medicine.
Ciudadano del Año — Grupo Salinas (2022)
Citizen of the Year, awarded by the Consejos Consultivos of Grupo Salinas (ceremony held February 2023).
Registered trademarks
Dr. Ariel Ortiz®
Registered trademark — used for the professional and academic identity of Dr. Ortiz.
Obesity Control Center®
Registered trademark of the clinical practice founded in 2003, Tijuana, Mexico.
Hospital CYNTAR®
Registered trademark of Centro Neurológico y de Terapia Avanzada Regional, Tijuana.
SleevePlus®
Registered trademark associated with the SleevePlus® metabolic surgery program.
Advertised procedures & where they are delivered
Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG)
Performed at Obesity Control Center® / Hospital CYNTAR®, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB)
Performed at Obesity Control Center® / Hospital CYNTAR®, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
Bariatric revision surgery
Revisional procedures for prior sleeve, band, or bypass — performed at Obesity Control Center® / Hospital CYNTAR®.
OCC–UCSD 19,801-patient outcomes series
Retrospective series presented at ASMBS 2022 reporting a 1.2% 30-day morbidity rate and zero 30-day mortalities across the reviewed cohort.
Source: ASMBS 2022 abstract
A note on verification
Every claim on this site — certification, appointment, accreditation, award, trademark, or procedure — is intended to be independently verifiable. Where a primary source is not linked above, records are available on request to journalists, conference organizers, and academic collaborators through the professional contact form. Corrections are welcome; see editorial policy.