Bariatric Medicine: Struggles and Lessons Learned in the New World of COVID-19

Impact of COVID-19 on Delivery of Care: In-person vs Telemedicine and Medical Care

Michael R. Lyon, MD, Dipl. ABOM
Diplomate, American Board of Obesity Medicine
Clinical Instructor, University of British Columbia
Faculty of Medicine, Dept. of Family Practice
Medical Director, Obesity Medicine and Diabetes Institute
Medical Weight Management Program
Chair, Doctors of BC Nutrition Committee
Coquitlam, BC

Dr. Lyon is a Clinical Lecturer in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, Dept. of Family Practice. He served for several years as an Adjunct Professor with the UBC Food, Nutrition and Health Program. He is board certified in the field of Obesity Medicine through the American Board of Obesity Medicine. He is the Medical Director for the Medical Weight Management Program at the Obesity Medicine and Diabetes Institute in Coquitlam. He works closely with the bariatric surgical program in Richmond. He serves on an Obesity Medicine Working Group for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario assisting them in the establishment of acceptable standards of practice for obesity medicine. 

He is also a Canadian Mental Health Association CBT program facilitator and he makes extensive use of CBT, ACT and mindfulness-based stress reduction in his obesity medicine practice. He is currently a member of the Doctors of BC Council on Health Promotion and he serves as Chair of the Doctors of BC Nutrition Committee. He has an interest in Culinary Medicine and he is trained as a Clinician Chef Coach through Harvard School of Public Health. He has been involved in clinical research for several decades and he has special interest in the scientific study of nutrition and natural health products. He served for four years on the Expert Advisory Committee for Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate.  

Presentation Overview:

In this presentation Dr. Lyon will review how multidisciplinary obesity treatment center with 17 physicians, 30 support staff and several hundred patient encounters per day became a virtual clinic overnight with the use of face to face telemedicine, online group medical visits and a secure online patient portal.