Dr Silvana Perretta is an upper gastro-intestinal surgeon, Professor of Surgery Chief of Foregut and advanced Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Division. She also serves as Director of education at IHU-Strasbourg and of the Surgical Endoscopy fellowship program since 2014. She was elected Vice president of Ircad France in June 2019 and served in this role till July 2023. Her fields of interest are upper gastro-intestinal surgery, gastro-intestinal physiology, bariatric surgery, interventional endoscopy, surgical education and innovation. She has always advocated for surgeons performing interventional endoscopy in Europe and has been actively developing endoscopic platforms and flexible robotics. Dr Perretta has been a pioneer in Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES), hybrid surgical endoscopy procedures, endoscopic simulators and MOOC-oriented medical education worldwide. She authored 157 peer-reviewed publications, has an h-index of 44, has given over hundreds of lectures in MIS, surgical innovation and education. She holds a total of 9 patents and since 2011 runs the Business Engineering and Surgical Technologies education program “B.E.S.T” a custom designed innovation program which targets engineers, medical students, and young professionals wanting to learn how to drive innovation in medicine. In 2011 she was awarded the SAGES career development award. In 2016 she received a 1,2 million euros grant from the French Government for the development of e-learning and education in the field of surgical endoscopy, image guided therapy and MedTech innovation. In 2020 she was, second woman in 20 years, elected SAGES STORZ lecturer and was named Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor on January 1, 2021. In March 2022 she was the MGH-John Hopkins visiting professor. Recently she was elected Chair of the EAES Flexible Endoscopy committee, member of the IFSO flexible endoscopy committee, advisor for the American College of Surgeon Committee on Emerging Surgical Technologies and Education and member of the AMEE (An International Association for Medical Education) Surgery Track Steering Committee. Dr. Perretta is the founder and CMO of EVE-evolving education a company focused in democratizing surgical education worldwide and FAIR a foundation dedicated to empowering women in surgery through education, economic independence, access to education, essential resources and networks. Since April 2024 she is the vice president and co-founder of the Bariatric Endoscopy World Association “B.E.W.A”.