Dr. Nadiv Shapira has been practicing cardiac and thoracic surgery since the late 1980’s. Recognizing the need for improvement in the care of venous disease in Delaware and the surrounding communities, in January 2011, he opened First State Vein and Laser Center. In 2012 he left his 20-year practice of cardiothoracic surgery to devote his entire career to the practice of phlebology (the study of the venous circulatory system). Through the practice of phlebology, Dr. Shapira became familiar with lipedema and learned that the knowledge about it among the general population and the medical community was deficient. In particular, the deficiency in the medical community left many women undiagnosed, untreated, perplexed and defeated. Therefore, he decided to address lipedema in his practice. He studied with Dr. Josef Stutz, a renowned German vascular surgeon and one of the world authorities on lipedema. Now, Dr. Shapira treats women with all stages of lipedema from all over the United States with Water-Jet Assisted Liposuction (WAL) – a lymph-sparing surgical debulking of the lipedema fat. Dr. Shapira has received certification from the American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and, more recently, the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine. Along with Larry Wagner, he founded LTN to ensure that women who suffer from this fat disorder can gain access to caring, experienced lipedema doctors around the country – physicians who understand the nature of the disease and are highly skilled providing conservative and surgical treatment of lipedema.