Brian N. Sabowitz, MD
E-mail: DoctorB@ndwls.com
In 2009, Brian N. Sabowitz, M.D., joined New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery in San Antonio to begin developing one of the first comprehensive medically supervised weight management programs in the country. Using state-of-the-art techniques in both surgical and medical weight loss, New Dimensions offers the greatest chance at successful, long-term control of the chronic disease of obesity.
Doctor Sabowitz (or “Doctor B” as the new Dimensions team calls him) began his professional career not as a physician but as an engineer. From Boston University, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Bio-medical Engineering. His undergraduate and graduate research involved the study of electrical pathways in the inner ear responsible for the transmission of sound to the brain. This work was one of the precursors to the development of Cochlear Implants, which allow many people with congenital deafness to enjoy a life of hearing.
Upon graduation, he moved to Houston where he accepted a position as a Project Engineer at the Johnson Space Center. There, he designed and tested spaceflight hardware used in life-science experiments aboard NASA’s space shuttle fleet. Doctor Sabowitz had the opportunity to experience weightlessness first hand by testing hardware in Parabolic Flight on NASA’s KC-135 aircraft (also known as the “Vomit Comet”). He enjoyed flying so much that he applied to and entered into the pilot training program through the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
To meet the physical fitness requirements prior to entering the program, Doctor Sabowitz lost 40 pounds. However, despite constant efforts, he struggled to maintain his weight and was eventually forced to abandon his dream of being a fighter pilot.
“My story is similar to what I hear from patients every day. They are incredibly successful in so many different areas of life, but are helpless to control their weight. It made me feel useless, embarrassed, self-loathing.”
While obesity prevented him from pursuing a career as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, the doctor did not remain idle. He returned to NASA, this time at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and successfully managed the development and ultimate implementation of several life science experiments that flew on the space shuttle.
In 1992, Doctor Sabowitz decided to return to school and began his medical education at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. It was there that he met his wife, Cathy, whom he married in 1994. After medical school, Doctor Sabowitz moved to Phoenix, where he completed a residency program in Internal Medicine culminating with his Board Certification in 1999. He then opened an Internal Medicine practice in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where he remained until relocating to San Antonio in the summer of 2009.
Doctor B’s struggle with obesity continued throughout medical school and beyond, and, in 2003, his own physician recommended medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol.
“My doctor told me if I would just lose weight I wouldn’t need all these medications. The irony of the situation immediately struck me. Here I was telling patients to lose weight or go on more medications, and now my own physician was telling me the same thing. My response was to ask my doctor, ‘How do I do that?’ She had no answer for me. “
Doctor B began to study medical literature to look for a solution. He was surprised to find that there are options, but disappointed to find that few physicians are willing to help and that his own health insurance would not cover any treatment.
“They would spend thousands of dollars on medications and tests for the complications of obesity, but would do nothing about the obesity itself.”
In 2005, Doctor Sabowitz decided to undergo Gastric Bypass Surgery.
“It changed my life. In fact, it gave me my life back.”
Realizing that some patients did not meet the requirements for surgery for weight loss or simply could not afford it, Doctor Sabowitz founded the Arizona Medical Weight Loss Clinic to offer patients an alternative to surgical weight loss and to help those who underwent surgery to optimize their results.
“Something very bizarre started to happen. Instead of putting people on more and more medication, I was recommending that they stop medications. Instead of getting calls from the ER in the middle of the night, patients were calling me because their blood pressure was too low or their blood sugar was dropping too much on their previously adequate dose of insulin. “
In 2007, Doctor Sabowitz enlisted the help of the City of Lake Havasu to do a trial study. He ran 10 patients through his weight loss program for one year. The results were stunning. Health insurance claims dropped by 50%. Absenteeism dropped by 50%. Medication use dropped by 50-75%. The conclusions were obvious.
“Obesity is the chronic disease. The high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes (and their complications) are for the most part side effects of the obesity. It was obvious to me that this is where a Primary Care Physician should be spending the bulk of his time.”
Even though Doctor Sabowitz continues his practice with New Dimensions in San Antonio, he has returned to the Air National Guard in Arizona, this time not as a pilot but as a physician.
“Returning to the Air National Guard has fulfilled a void in me that has been present since I left back in 1986. It is an honor and privilege to be able to serve my country and knowing that I was able to overcome my obesity in order to achieve this is an endless source of pride.”