⭐ Our Story

11 Years of Transforming Lives

📅 Updated 2026 🏥 20,000+ surgeries 🌍 7+ countries served

Written by Dr. Alejandro López Ortega, M.D., FACS Founder & Lead Bariatric Surgeon · ALO Bariatrics

⭐ Founder

What started over 30 years ago as a young medical student's curiosity about a new way to fight obesity has become one of Mexico's most trusted bariatric programs. Today, ALO Bariatrics — formally Bariatric Medical Solutions — celebrates 11 years as an independent practice founded in 2015, and a journey of more than three decades dedicated to helping people reclaim their health.

This is our story.

Our mission has never changed. We don't just perform surgeries — we transform lives. Every one of the 20,000+ patients we've operated on is a reminder of why we started. — Dr. Alejandro López Ortega, Founder

The Origin: A Med Student in the 1990s

ALO's story didn't begin with a hospital opening — it began in a classroom. In the early 1990s, when obesity was just being recognized as a chronic disease and not a lifestyle failure, Dr. Alejandro López was a medical student in Mexico when a professor invited him to study a new and controversial surgical alternative: the gastric band.

That collaboration led to some of the first clinical trials of the procedure in both the United States and Mexico — pioneering work at a time when bariatric surgery was still finding its footing as a legitimate medical specialty.

One city kept appearing at the center of that movement: Tijuana, Mexico. The first FDA-approved clinical trials for bariatric devices took place there, laying the foundation for what is today one of the world's most important medical-tourism destinations.

Pioneer Years: Building the Foundation

Through the 90s and 2000s, Dr. López divided his time between Guadalajara and Tijuana — operating, learning, and advancing the science of bariatric medicine alongside the international community. Key milestones during this era:

• The IFSO — the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity — was founded, giving the specialty a global home.
• The Congreso Mexicano de la Bariatría launched in Mexico, creating the country's leading professional society.
• Research into gastric bypass and duodenal switch matured into the procedures we know today.
• By the end of the 2000s, laparoscopic bariatric surgery — minimally invasive, much faster recovery — had become the standard. Dr. López was among the early adopters in Mexico.

By the 2010s, Dr. López had become one of the most prolific bariatric surgeons in the country — but he wanted to do more than just perform procedures. He wanted to build a complete patient experience: world-class surgery at accessible prices, with the kind of support and follow-up most international patients had never had access to.

Founding ALO Bariatrics in 2015

For years, Dr. López had been a partner in other bariatric practices in Mexico — performing thousands of surgeries and helping build their reputations. But over time, he saw opportunities to do things better: a more transparent patient experience, a more rigorous standard of post-operative care, and a deeper commitment to long-term patient outcomes — not just surgery volumes.

So in 2015, he stepped away to found his own practice from the ground up — built around the principles he believed bariatric care should always be guided by. The legal entity, Bariatric Medical Solutions, opened its doors doing business as ALO Bariatrics.

From day one, ALO has been built around three principles that still guide everything we do:

1. World-class surgical excellence — minimally invasive techniques performed in internationally accredited hospitals, by surgeons who continue to train at the highest international levels.
2. Cost-conscious access — making first-grade bariatric care affordable for patients in the U.S., Canada, and beyond — without sacrificing quality.
3. End-to-end patient support — bilingual coordination from first call to lifetime follow-up, with our own dedicated nutrition team. Most international clinics offer none of this.

The Journey, Year by Year

A Global Patient Family

What started as a Mexican practice now serves patients from around the world. People travel to ALO from:

Each patient brings their own story, their own goals, and their own reason for choosing ALO. What unites them is a decision to take their health back — and trust us with that journey.

Where We Operate Today

Three Mexico cities, three internationally accredited hospitals, one consistent standard of care.

What 11 Years Have Taught Us

Three lessons stand out from over a decade of operating, teaching, and following up with thousands of patients:

1. Volume creates safety

Surgical outcomes correlate strongly with case volume. The reason ALO patients have such consistently strong outcomes isn't any one technique — it's the cumulative refinement that comes from operating at high volume year after year, on patients with diverse anatomies, BMIs, and previous surgeries. Read more about why Tijuana surgeon volume matters.

2. Surgery is the start, not the end

The patients with the best long-term results are the ones who treat surgery as a tool — not a cure. The ones who follow the long-term diet principles, take their supplements for life, and stay engaged with our nutrition team — those are the patients who five and ten years out, are still thriving.

3. Continuous education matters

Bariatric medicine evolves quickly. Every new technique, device, and protocol that's become standard since the 1990s started as research at major international conferences. Our team attends IFSO (international), ASMBS (U.S.), and recertifies on the Da Vinci platform every year — and we'll keep doing that as long as the field keeps advancing.

Thank You

None of this happens without our team — the surgeons, anesthesiologists, nutritionists, nurses, coordinators, and every member of ALO who has been part of these 11+ years. Special thanks to Dr. Ramírez, who was there from the founding days, and to every team member past and present.

And thank you to every patient who trusted us with their health. You are why we do this. The work continues — and the next 11 years will be even better than the first.