Saturday, June 9, 2012

Plenary Session - CURRENT OUTCOMES AND MANAGEMENT
Medical Approach to Obesity

Co-Chairs: Drs. Kenneth Reed, Teodor Grantcharov

Role of Private Bariatric Medical Centres

Learning Objectives

  1. Understand the emergence of private medical bariatric medical centres
  2. Understand the future contribution of these centres to bariatric care in Canada

Speaker

Dr. Sean Wharton, MD, FRCPC
General Internal Medicine, Bariatric Medicine

Dr. Wharton has his doctorate in both Pharmacy and Medicine.  Dr. Wharton graduated from UofT Pharmacy program in 1992, and his Doctorate in Pharmacy in 1997. He completed medical school at UofT, in 2001 and residency in Internal Medicine at McMaster University in 2005. His interest in ethnicity and medicine led him to the study of hypertension and then to obesity under the guidance of Dr. Arya Sharma, an international recognized leader in obesity research.

Dr. Wharton is the medical director of the Wharton Medical Clinic, a community based internal medicine weight management clinic.

Dr. Wharton research includes the clinical aspects of bariatric medicine and diabetes research.  Peer reviewed articles include; feasibility of an interdisciplinary program for obesity management in Canada.

Diabetes management is a focus for Dr. Wharton, as 25% of overweight and obese patients have this chronic medical condition. Dr. Wharton is the lead author of the weight management chapter for the 2013 Canadian Diabetes Association Guidelines; his co-authors are Dr. Arya Sharma and Dr. David Lau.

Dr. Wharton is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Canadian Obesity Network, the Canadian Association of Bariatric Surgeons and Physicians