Page 27 - IFSO-History-Book-Digital-File

school. Emilie became a professor of English Literature at the University of Minnesota and
founder/editor-in-chief of two publishing companies. The Buchwalds have four daughters and six
grandchildren, and in 2026, celebrated seventy-two years of marriage. In 1956, during medical
school, while performing research over the summer, Henry built the first microscopic histamine
analyzer. In 1957, he graduated medical school at the top of his class; interned in surgery at
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center; and served on combat status in the Air Force as Base Flight
Surgeon from 1958-1960 at Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1960, Henry entered the residency program at the University of Minnesota, led at that time by
three surgical greats, Drs. Owen H. Wangensteen, Richard L. Varco, and Walton C. Lillehei. On
completing residency, Henry became an Assistant Professor. After promotion to Full Professor, he
was awarded the Owen H. and Sarah Davidson Wangensteen Chair in Experimental Surgery. He
never left Minnesota and retired as Emeritus Professor at the age of 90 in July, 2022. In addition to
defining the concept of metabolic surgery, Buchwald is recognized as a surgeon; a lipid and
atherosclerosis researcher; metabolic surgery innovator, researcher, and advocate; biomedical
engineer and inventor; educator; and author.

Buchwald performed over 10,000 operations and was known for his technical excellence, lack of
complications, and dedicated patient care. He invented the PIB metabolic surgery operation to
lower cholesterol, demonstrating its biochemical and physiologic rationale in the laboratory and
clinic [6]. The PIB was the intervention modality in the first metabolic surgery randomized controlled
trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the $65 million-funded Program on the Surgical
Control of the Hyperlipidemias (POSCH). This study was the first to demonstrate that marked
reduction in cholesterol levels significantly reduced overall mortality, and mortality due to coronary
heart disease, as well as peripheral atherosclerotic disease; and, it was the first to demonstrate an
increase in life expectancy [7]. In addition, it was the first demonstration of actual coronary lesion
regression subsequent to cholesterol lowering [8]. In MBS, his work in elucidating the source and
existing mechanism for ileal glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion was a precursor of the
widespread availability of GLP-1s from the pharmaceutical industry [9]. Buchwald was also
co-inventor of the first implantable drug infusion pump and the now-ubiquitous surgically implanted
infusion port, in addition to a peritoneovenous shunt, one-way catheters, and an apparatus to
measure oxygen transport. He holds over twenty bioengineering patents, and was the co-founder of
the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Buchwald is the author of more than 360 peer-reviewed medical publications and has written
and contributed to more than 100 books. He served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Obesity Surgery
journal and currently writes a bimonthly column for General Surgery News. In his 2022 book,
Healthcare Upside Down: A Critical Examination of Policy and Practice, Dr. Buchwald explores the
failures of the US healthcare system, including how it serves the administrators of the system as
opposed to patients [10]. His second trade nonfiction book, Don’t Tread On Me, will be published in
the Fall of 2026.

Buchwald is the past president of five surgical organizations, including the American Society for
Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the International Federation for the Surgery and Other
Therapies for Obesity (IFSO). He has received a number of awards and honors in recognition of his
clinical and scholarly accomplishments, including induction as an Honorary Member into the Royal
College of Surgeons of England; the Jacobson Innovation Award from the American College of
Surgeons; and the Gold Medal for Achievement in Research from Vagelos College of Physicians and
Surgeons. In June, 2025, he was honored with a tribute to his surgical and scholarly contributions
(Festschrift) during the annual ASMBS meeting. In September, 2026, he will be named an “Icon in
Surgery” by the American College of Surgeons. Now in his 90s, Buchwald continues to be an
advocate and contributor to the principles of metabolic surgery.

25