Shirin Towfigh

Shirin Towfigh (born 1971) is an American surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive hernia surgery. She is the president and founder of the Beverly Hills Hernia Center, a specialty clinic launched in 2013 for treating hernias and hernia-related complications. She is also the CEO of Hexagon Health.

Early life and education Towfigh was born in 1971 in the capital city of Tehran, Iran, and she moved to the United States with her family at the age of two.

Towfigh attended the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) for medical school. It was in her clerkship year that she gained an interest in surgery. After completing medical school, she moved back to Los Angeles, where she completed a general surgical residency at UCLA in 2002. Her interest in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery was sparked during residency, as she was interested in laparoscopy due to potentials in technological advancements.

Surgical career After completing her residency, she joined the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles County Hospital.

Towfigh decided to advance hernia care as a private practicing surgeon, saying "why would I choose to be employed with… a whole hierarchy of administrative bosses, when I can be my own boss, without a ceiling on growth?". In 2013, she inaugurated the Beverly Hills Hernia Center, a multi-disciplinary clinic that cares for hernia patients with various hernia-related issues. Through her work at Hexagon Health, Towfigh holds multiple patents in hernia mesh innovation. She has served as Governor to the American College of Surgeons and to the American Hernia Society. She is an active member of numerous national and international hernia societies, such as the American Hernia Society, International Hernia Collaboration, and Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES). She received the SAGES Member Spotlight Award in 2021 and the SAGES Recognition of Excellence Award in 2022. She was spotlighted for her work on hernias in women in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Towfigh sponsors an annual research award, Female Factors in Hernia Award, to promote research on hernias in females. She is a surgical innovator and has patented gender-based designs of hernia mesh which are inspired by her experiences with mesh complications seen disparately among males and females.

Publications Towfigh has authored articles highlighting various aspects of hernia surgery and surgical education. She is the co-Editor of the texbook SAGES Manual of Groin Pain.

Selected articles

Balthazar da Silveira CA, Mazzola Poli de Figueiredo S, Rasador ACD, Dias YM, Hernandez Martin RR, Fernandez MG, Towfigh S. Impact of patient's sex on groin hernia repair: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Surg. 2024 Sep 20. doi: 10.1002/wjs.12344. Epub ahead of print. PMID 39304983.

Chapters and books