Our Physicians...

All of our physicians have successfully completed Medical School, a post-graduate residency, and are licensed in the State of Minnesota. Our surgeons are all graduates of accredited Surgery Residency programs in the United States, have met all of the requirements of the Surgery Residency Review Committee, and are Certified by the American Board of Surgery. In addition, our surgeons are all Fellows of the American College of Surgeons, and members of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Minneapolis Bariatric Surgeons is a Center of Excellence in conjunction with both Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul.

Edmund Chute MD, Surgeon Dr. Chute had surgical training at the University of Minnesota and was on the Bariatric Service there in 1982. He went on to complete a fellowship in Vascular Surgery, and has been a part of this surgical group since 1990. He has been performing laparoscopic gastric bypass since 2002, and now specializes in weight loss surgery. He has a special interest in laparoscopic treatment of obesity.

Raymond Drew MD, Surgeon Dr. Drew has devoted his entire professional career to the care of the obese. He attended medical school at the University of Iowa and studied under Dr. Mason, who performed the first gastric bypass. After surgery residency at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, he joined Dr. John Linner, who completed the world's first bariatric operation. He and Dr. Schwartz were the first in the Midwest to successfully complete a laparoscopic gastric bypass in 1999. He is the Medical Director of Bariatrics at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Michael Schwartz MD, PhD, Surgeon Dr. Schwartz has great experience in bariatric surgery, having started a bariatric program in 1978. He maintained this interest throughout his career, and focused primarily on bariatric surgery several years ago. With Dr. Drew, he performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass in the Midwest in 1999. He and Dr. Drew designed the Minnesota Bariatric Database to track patient outcomes and improve surgeons' ability to care optimally for patients. He has extensive laparoscopic and open surgical experience, and a special interest in the LapBand device.