Brian Grace, Physician Assistant

Hi, my name is Brian Grace, Dr. Tsuda’s Physician Assistant.

I’ve been involved in bariatrics for 15 years. I fell into it by chance, but I’ve never wanted to go back. Bariatric surgery is a dream job for me because I get to help people lose significant amounts of weight and improve those weight related medical problems that seem to plague the obese population prior to bariatric surgery.

When I was involved in family practice, I would just be prescribing medication after medication, but since I became involved in bariatric surgery, I have been able to help people resolve those medical problems that were difficult to treat prior to weight loss surgery. I’ve been involved in thousands of patients’ surgeries and the reward is seeing them be able to nothing they haven’t been able to for years, like bend over to tie their shoe – the simple things that people who are not morbidly obese take for granted.

That’s really why I love this area of medicine.

I am involved with the pre-surgery workup for bariatric patients as well as follow up care. During the pre-surgery period, I’m involved in the diets, ordering the test for patients including endoscopy, chest x-rays, EKGs, reviewing blood work and helping patients get to surgery. During surgery, I assist in the operation and postoperatively I’m involved in managing patients with their dietary guidelines, assessing any problems that might come up and ordering necessary tests.

I make myself available at all times during the postoperative bariatric process and patients can access me any time if they are ever unsure about their post-op lifestyle guidelines.