Dr Samantha Scholtz is a consultant psychiatrist who specialises in the management of obesity and related disorders as well as the preparation of patients for bariatric surgery. Currently based at the Imperial Weight Centre, St Mary’s Hospital, she graduated from Stellenbosch University and completed her higher specialist training at St. George’s University of London. She has expertise in the management of eating disorders and obesity, and has worked within three different national referral centres in this field. She is an expert at providing psychiatric assessment and support to patients undergoing weight loss treatments, having assessed and guided over 2000 patients through this process. She has trained in various psychotherapeutic approaches and uses a cognitive behavioural or cognitive analytical approach when required. Her PhD, funded by the Welcome Trust Charity examined appetite and food reward changes in patients who have undergone bariatric surgery using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals.