meet our team
Meet our team
Meet the Founders & Instructors .
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Dr. Mario J. Samaha, MD, FACS —
Founder & CEO, FortifiMD Double Board-Certified Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon
Mario J. Samaha is the Founder and CEO of FortifiMD and a practicing double board certified plastic/reconstructive surgeon licensed in the State of Florida, Dubai, and Lebanon. Trained at world-renowned institutions including the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Miami, and Jackson Memorial Hospital, Dr. Samaha built the vision for his career on precision, leadership and a deep commitment to personal excellence. Dr. Samaha opened his own plastic surgery practice just two years out of residency.
In opening his own practice at a young age, Dr. Samaha quickly realized that there are certain things medical school and residency simply cannot teach –that success in modern medicine demands much more than clinical skill. Running his practice required navigating legal, financial, and business-related complexities –challenges he had to learn to manage on his own through persistence and experience. That journey revealed to Dr. Samaha that there was a critical gap in medical training: doctors are taught how to heal but not how to protect their careers, assets, and livelihoods.
Driven to bridge that gap, Dr. Samaha created FortifiMD to empower physicians with the legal, financial, and business literacy needed to thrive beyond medicine, so that other young doctors can learn from the experiences he went through before they arise. Dr. Samaha’s vision is to ensure that every doctor is equipped not only to practice with excellence but also to build a secure, sustainable, and confident professional future that is fortified against risk.
Senior Teacher
Elizabeth Sarah Johannesen, Esq.
Co-Founder, President of FortifiMD Practicing Attorney in New York
Elizabeth Sarah Johannesen is the Co-Founder and President of FortifiMD and a New York–licensed attorney specializing in high-stakes litigation, complex investigations, and crisis management. She founded two Manhattan-based firms and brings a rare, integrated perspective at the intersection of law, medicine, and institutional risk.
Elizabeth began her career as a New York City prosecutor focused on complex investigations and witness preparation before establishing practices focused on investigative and litigation responses to defending healthcare professionals and institutions in civil litigation, criminal investigations, and state/federal regulatory or licensure investigations. Her work includes successfully terminating a license-threatening investigation by the New York State Inspector General’s Office by uncovering dispositive exculpatory evidence, preventing both professional discipline and criminal prosecution as well as assisting institutions in internal investigatory practices. She is also highly experienced in asset tracing and protection strategies that safeguard personal and enterprise assets from litigation exposure.
Through FortifiMD, Elizabeth applies her litigation and investigative background to help physicians, hospitals, and healthcare systems proactively reduce legal risk through education. FortifiMD strengthens internal investigation and compliance practices to protect institutions from litigation, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational harm—while simultaneously safeguarding individual clinicians from unnecessary exposure. At FortifiMD, she equips medical organizations with defensible, litigation-aware frameworks that strengthen compliance, preserve credibility, and support sustainable risk management in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape.
Luis Umana, Esq.
Co-Founder, chief legal officer of FortifiMD Practicing Attorney in New York & Florida
Luis Umana is the Co-Founder and Chief Legal Officer of FortifiMD and a New York–licensed attorney with extensive experience in prosecution, complex medical malpractice, and catastrophic personal injury litigation. His background provides an end-to-end understanding of how clinical decisions, internal processes, and insurance structures translate into real litigation exposure for physicians and healthcare institutions.
Luis began his career as a New York City prosecutor handling serious criminal investigations involving injured victims before transitioning into private practice focused on complex medical malpractice and nursing home negligence matters. He later opened his own practice at a prominent boutique Manhattan firm, where he leads the Medical Malpractice and Catastrophic Personal Injury departments. His practice is exclusively focused on cases involving complex medicine and life-altering or fatal injuries, and he regularly presents such matters to insurance carriers to secure coverage. His results include a $6 million trial verdict and several multimillion-dollar resolutions, both in and outside of litigation.
Through this litigation experience, Luis has seen firsthand how gaps in legal strategy, insurance coverage, HIPAA compliance, and internal investigative practices expose physicians and institutions to significant risk. At FortifiMD, he applies his expertise in medical malpractice, insurance coverage, healthcare law, and compliance to help physicians, hospitals, and health systems proactively identify and mitigate risk before claims arise. His mission is to ensure that every physician is empowered with the proper knowledge to protect their careers, their reputations, and their futures.
