Gaurav Sharma, a physician with Virtua Surgical Group in Moorestown, recently earned a noteworthy distinction from a medical organization tackling one of the country’s leading health concerns.
Sharma is now one of just six surgeons in New Jersey and 117 in the United States and Canada to be named a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM).
During his time in the residency program at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston beginning in 2013, Sharma saw firsthand the difference bariatric, or weight loss, surgery can have on a patient. His experience there ended up being the deciding factor in the direction he would eventually take with his career in the medical field.
“I saw the satisfaction, the happiness of the patients after getting the weight loss surgery and after losing weight, the confidence that they gained after getting the surgery,” Sharma said. “I was very attracted to the patient satisfaction, that I can make a really big change in someone’s life.”
As a practicing weight-loss surgeon, most of his work centered around just that — weight-loss surgery — but he was interested in treating more than just the effects of obesity. Sharma wanted to look at the root causes of the epidemic to get a more complete picture and educate patients who may be able to treat their condition before turning to a surgical solution.
“What I wanted to know was the medical aspect. What is obesity? What causes obesity? Surgery is not always the answer or treatment for a condition,” Sharma said.
This desire for a more well-rounded understanding of the complicated issue of obesity in humans led him to engage in months of in-depth study to prepare for an exhaustive exam that would earn him the ABOM credential.
According to Sharma, bariatric surgery has come a long way in recent years. Less-invasive techniques have enabled faster recoveries and less downtime for patients. Despite this fact, with his newly-earned credential as a diplomate for the ABOM, he said he has acquired new tools in his approach to the treatment options he can offer his patients.
“Obesity is a chronic multifactorial disease so surgery is just one aspect, or treatment, of this disease,” said Sharma.
According to the findings of a 2015-2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 40 percent of adults in this country are afflicted with obesity. The disease is associated with a higher risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and other health problems.
In his research, Sharma found the causes of the disease can go beyond someone’s dietary habits, which play a significant part, but don’t necessarily represent the sole driving force behind a patient’s condition. Factors like genetics, certain medications and sleep patterns can be huge contributing factors.
“Even if they are not eating too much, they are exercising, they are doing everything but they are just not sleeping well. That lack of sleep causes so much biochemical reaction in the body that can cause deposition of fat,” Sharma said.
When it comes to treating obesity as a society, Sharma believes we could be doing more to ensure people have access to healthy food options and to educate people about the issue and how to keep themselves from developing a problem in the first place.
This kind of health education, he believes, is something that should be incorporated into someone’s regular checkups with their personal physician. By using a technique known as motivational interviewing, a counseling method used to elicit changes in behavior, Sharma believes medical professionals can steer their patients toward making better, more informed decisions about maintaining their health.
“I used to only talk about surgery,” Sharma said. “Now, after this, I ask them about their sleep, their routine and daily activities, do they read the labels, I look at their medications, I look at whether there is any environmental stress on them. Now I am treating every patient comprehensively.”
