Michael A Snyder MD FACS PC

Dr. Snyder is a board-certified, general surgeon in Denver, CO. He first became interested in Bariatric Surgery during his residency in Portland, OR, at Oregon Health Sciences University. Since establishing his practice in Colorado, he has further pursued this interest. He is an active member of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS).

His bariatric training has been comprehensive and methodical. He sought out and attended an ASBS certified preceptorship in Eugene, OR, in August 2000, in order to learn from one of the giants in the field-- Dr. Latham Flanagan, Jr. He returned to Colorado to establish the Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery, PC. After becoming established and gaining considerable experience in the field of open gastric bypass surgery, he then went to Jupiter, FL, to train with Dr. Jefferson Vaughan, Jr., and start developing his expertise and knowledge in laparoscopic (minimally invasive) bariatric procedures. Already an accomplished advance laparoscopic, general surgeon and a member of SAGES (the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons), Dr. Snyder felt that his bariatric program was prepared to take the next step.

When Dr. Snyder was ready to start the advanced laparoscopic branch of his bariatric practice, he went to San Diego, CA, where he trained with the recognized leader of the field of laparoscopic bariatric surgery, Dr. Alan Wittgrove, and his associate, Dr. Jill Endress, who had already made a internationally-recognized name for herself as an expert in the advance laparoscopic realm. Dr. Snyder then facilitated his team’s purchase and training in the use of the VISTA system—which allows him and his team to offer laparoscopic surgery with actual 3-dimensional visualization on head mounted displays. He feels that this is a huge technological advantage and adds to safety in the operating room.

The next advance made in the bariatric realm, after the laparoscopic bypass program was in place and successful, was the addition of the Lap-Band to his armamentarium in the treatment of morbid obesity. He was educated on this process in the summer of 2001 at the ASBS conference in Las Vegas, NV. Then, after passing the strict selection criteria set forth by the Inamed corporation, he completed his Lap-Band training under Dr. Robert Snow and Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico—he selected this center because it is the North American center with the most experience in Lap-Band placement and management.

Dr. Snyder’s interest in Bariatric Surgery is based on his knowledge that morbid obesity is one of the essential, yet almost wholly ignored, diseases that physicians are exposed to every day. He believes that, in the appropriate patient, the surgical treatment of morbid obesity is the essential therapy that can cure a myriad of ills. He has found that in his patients the results are dramatic—ranging from life-changing to life-saving. He appreciates and is humbled by the honor and responsibility of caring for his patients struggling with this most debilitating condition.