Craig Chang Bariatric Surgeon

As most of you know, these profiles are usually boring and impersonal. They give you the educational history of your prospective surgeon but never really let you know who they are. My goal is to give you some insight into who I really am and why I like caring for weight loss surgery patients. My Education. I grew up in rural Kansas and attended the University of Kansas for college and medical school. I then served two years in the army as a general medical officer seeing sick call and doing physicals all day long (this wasn’t really what I wanted to do when I signed on the dotted line for Uncle Sam). Thankfully, I was allowed to finish my surgery training after two years. I then attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City for my surgery residency. During my last year, I developed an interest in weight loss surgery. As a trainee, I liked doing gastric bypasses -- they were technically difficult and required patience and precision. However, my focus was learning the operation and not caring for the patient. After finishing residency, I spent my final two years in the army as a general surgeon. That’s when I really learned how to care for people. I learned a lot about what motivates people to seek weight loss surgery and what keeps some from it. My goal was to teach my patients how to make new healthy habits and break the cycle of failure with their weight. During this time, I only performed open gastric bypass (through the long incisions). So, I moved to Dallas where I performed a one-year fellowship at University of Texas Southwestern specializing in laparoscopic weight loss surgery. Again, it was the technical aspects of laparoscopic weight loss surgery that attracted me to Dallas…you have to be really good to do these operations at the end of two foot-long sticks! I did a lot of surgeries and wrote several medical papers, including a chapter on laparoscopic surgery for one of the premier textbooks of surgery (Sabiston 17th edition). However, the greatest lesson I learned was that my patients needed physical, mental and spiritual health to be completely healthy. In 2003, I was offered a position with Citizens Bariatric Center that I couldn’t refuse! I have never regretted moving to Victoria. I perform laparoscopic bypass, LAP-BANDs, and revision surgeries, care for a large number of patients, and am part of something greater - my team. My Citizens Bariatric team is growing and dynamic. We take pride in the care of our patients. I teach my team and vice versa. I love my job because it’s challenging. I get the opportunity to help my patients on many different levels. My Practice Philosophy. I love to learn. Although my formal training has ended, I am still a student…I am constantly learning something about my patients or surgery. For me to effectively treat you, I have to study and learn about you -- What motivates you? What fears do you have? How can I better encourage you? When I ask myself these questions, it helps me understand you better. This translates to greater success. So, I would summarize my practice philosophy in the following way: ”My goal is to use all that I know to help my patients achieve physical, mental and spiritual healing.” What makes me unique? Although my job is very important, it is much less important than being a good servant of God, good husband, and good father. These are my priorities. Other things that make me unique are the fact that I am a bee-keeper, runner, armadillo hunter, and long-range shooter (please note that I do not claim any level of expertise in these other areas!). Craig G. Chang, M.D., F.A.C.S.

• Younan Nowzaradan — Houston, TX

• Nancy Marquez — Austin, TX