Dr. Robert Bechara is an Associate Professor at Queen’s University and an advanced therapeutic endoscopist at Kingston Health Sciences Centre in Kingston, Ontario. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading experts in endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and has played a key role in advancing ESD capacity nationwide. He completed fellowship training in advanced therapeutic endoscopy at St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, followed by a one-year fellowship under Dr. Haruhiro Inoue at Showa University in Tokyo, becoming the first Canadian to train in this program. In 2025, he undertook additional training at the Cancer Institute Hospital of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in Tokyo, with a focus on pharyngeal ESD, and was the first to introduce pharyngeal ESD to North America. His clinical and research interests include ESD, magnifying endoscopy, minimally invasive management of gastrointestinal neoplasia, and advancing training, education, and quality of optical diagnosis across Canada.

I have/had an affiliation (financial or otherwise) with a for-profit or not-for-profit organization.
- Received/will receive a grant or an honorarium from a for-profit or not-for-profit organization: Olympus, Vantage Endoscopy
- Member of an advisory board or speakers’ bureau: Olympus, Vantage Endoscopy

I do not intend to make therapeutic recommendations for medications that have not received regulatory approval (ie, “off-label” use of medications).