Abstract

Metabolic/bariatric surgery

Author(s): Henry Buchwald

Henry Buchwald*: Attended Columbia College (Valedictorian, 1954) and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He studied under Drs Wangensteen and Varco at the University of Minnesota (USA). He is Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and was the first Owen H and Sarah Davidson Wangensteen Chair in Experimental Surgery at the University of Minnesota. Dr Buchwald served as President of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO), American Society for Metabolic/Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), Central Surgical Association, International Study Group for Implantable Insulin Delivery Devices and the Owen H Wangensteen Society. He was principal investigator of the Program on the Surgical Control of the Hyperlipidemias (POSCH), the first randomized clinical trial to demonstrate, in 1990, that cholesterol lowering via the partial ileal bypass resulted in reductions in myocardial infarctions, angina pectoris and peripheral vascular disease; arteriographic arrest and regression of atherosclerosis; and prolongation of life expectancy – a major metabolic surgery achievement. Dr Buchwald was inventor of the first implantable infusion pump in the 1970s and the implanter of the device for heparin delivery, insulin delivery and chemotherapy. A pioneer of bariatric surgery with over 4000 bariatric cases, Dr Buchwald was the primary author of the first meta-analysis of obesity comorbidities outcomes following bariatric surgery in a world literature review published in 2004. A follow-up meta-analysis on Type 2 diabetes was published by the American Journal of Medicine. He wrote the American College of Surgeons’ guidelines for Bariatric Surgery Centers, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Scientific Review Corporation of the ASMBS and gained recognition by the American Board of Surgery of the discipline of bariatric surgery. In 2006, Dr Buchwald edited the authorative text on the Surgical Management of Morbid Obesity and a text on Pioneers in Surgical Gastroenterology. He served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Obesity Surgery from 2009 to 2011. In November 2011, his surgical atlas on metabolic/bariatric surgery was published. Henry Buchwald speaks to Alisa Crisp, Assistant Commissioning Editor.