Meet Dr. Henry Buchwald

For more than 60 years, Henry Buchwald, MD, PhD, has been revered as a doctor, surgeon, teacher, healthcare pioneer and patient advocate. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He earned his B.A. at Columbia College, and his M.D. at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, graduating at the top of his class from both institutions.

As a respected veteran, he served for two years as the Chief Base Flight Surgeon for the Strategic Air Command at the Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. He then completed his residency training at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, earning his M.S. in Biochemistry and Ph.D. in Surgery. Dr. Buchwald joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 1966.

Dr. Buchwald has been the recipient of numerous NIH and other organizational grants for research. He was the Principal Investigator of the 20-year Program on the Surgical Control of the Hyperlipidemias, the first randomized clinical trial to demonstrate that his partial ileal bypass surgery resulted in reductions in cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease, prolonging overall life expectancy.

Dr. Buchwald was also a pioneer in bariatric surgery and the co-author and primary advocate of the concept of metabolic surgery. He holds 20 patents for bioengineering devices, including the first implantable infusion pump used in insulin delivery and continuous chemotherapy delivery.

In addition to an exemplary career as a clinical surgeon, Dr. Buchwald is a highly respected teacher and educator. He was the first Owen and Sarah H. Davidson Wangensteen Chair in Experimental Surgery, and served as the Director of Graduate Surgical Training and Surgical Residency at the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota Medical Alumni Society presented him with the Harold S. Diehl Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions.

Dr. Buchwald is the author of over 360 peer-reviewed medical publications, and has written and contributed to more than 100 books. He has served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal “Obesity Surgery” and writes a bi-monthly column for General Surgery News. In his latest book, Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice (Springer), Dr. Buchwald explores the failures of the U.S. healthcare system, demonstrating how it serves the administrators of the system as opposed to patients.

The past president of five surgical organizations, Buchwald is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in recognition of his clinical and scholarly accomplishments, including: induction as an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; winner of the prestigious Jacobson Innovation Award from the American College of Surgeons (2019); and recipient of the Gold Medal for Achievement in Research from the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (2020). He lives with his wife, Emilie Buchwald, in Minneapolis.