Luis Garcia, MD, FACS, MBA, FASMBS

Director

As the clinic president for Sanford Health, Dr. Garcia oversees physician and advanced practice provider governance, recruitment, and overall clinic strategy and integration across the system. As president of the medical group for Sanford Health, Dr Garcia leads the medical group of over 2,600 members. Sanford Health is the largest fully integrated rural healthcare delivery system in North and South Dakota. His trajectory has included multiple deliverables in topics of clinician culture and wellbeing, compensation, strategic growth, leadership development, advocacy, Graduate Medical Education, etc.

Dr. Garcia was born and raised in Mexico City, where he attended medical school at LaSalle University. He completed his General Surgery Residency at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences and did a mini-fellowship in bariatric surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He also holds a healthcare M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).

Dr. Garcia joined Sanford Health in 2002 as a general and bariatric surgeon. Throughout his clinical career, he held a variety of administrative and leadership positions including being the Chair of Bariatric Surgery and Co-director of the Eating Disorders and Weight Management Center in Fargo, North Dakota. Prior to his transition into his president role, Dr Garcia was a physician member and treasurer of the Board of Directors in the Fargo market and chaired the Professional Conduct Committee and Physician Executive Council. Dr Garcia has additional extensive experience in other healthcare-related committee involvement—Credentials Committee, Compensation Committee, etc.

Dr. Garcia has been involved in research activities in relation to the treatment of obesity and eating disorders and is co-founder/past chair of the Dakota-Yellowstone Chapter for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and founder/past-chair of the Rural Surgery Committee for the same society.

Dr. Garcia serves as a member of the International Esperanza Project Board and the Matto Foundation Board. He is also a member of the Public Policy Committee at the AMGA and Large System Council at Vizient. 

For the last decade, Dr. Garcia has been involved in Humanitarian Medical mission trips to Central America and was recently named an "Ambassador of Hope" for Samaritan's Feet International.