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Life TransformerBy CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTON

When Dr. Helmut Schreiber joinedMetroHealth Medical Center asan attending surgeon in 1975,

he could have easily entered a distin-guished career in gastrointestinal surgery.Instead, he chose to pursue a little-known,barely respected specialty called bariatrics,a surgical procedure that shrinks the stom-achs of morbidly obese people.

It was a lonely choice. Soon after hisarrival, the doctor who drew him into thefield left Cleveland. Schreiber became aminority of one, promoting these opera-tions to radically improve lives of individ-uals suffering under the severe physical,emotional and societal pressures thataccompany obesity.

Three decades later, Schreiber is recog-nized as a pioneer in an exploding fieldthat has hospitals throughout the countryscrambling to accommodate the demandfor bariatric surgery. Today, morbid obe-sity is second only to smoking as the lead-ing cause of preventable death in theUnited States, killing more than 250,000people annually. Almost 59 million adultAmericans (31 percent) are obese, whichis double the number from two decadesago, according to a study by the Centersof Disease Control and Prevention.Moreover, the number of bariatric proce-dures performed rose by 40 percent lastyear, to 80,000, and is expected to reach120,000 this year, according to the con-sulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

At St. Vincent Charity Hospital, whereSchreiber is director of surgery, his teamperforms approximately 100 bariatricprocedures each month. For Schreiber,validation is sweet.

"I am deeply gratified that the things Ihave talked about for 28 years have cometo fruition with the data that's appearingallover the country to validate what I'vebeen working on," he says.

10 NOVEMBER 2003

Schreiber adds that the recent discov-ery of ghrelin, a hormone that causeshunger, lends additional credence to theprocedure from a scientific perspective. Astudy published last year in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine proved thatbariatric or gastric bypass surgery signifi-cantly reduces the hormone's productionby shrinking the stomach to the size of athumb, thus reducing stimulation of thehormone through the stomach lining.

"The surgery has gotten a lot of public-ity lately as a physiological operation, not.just a mechanical operation," he explains."Now, we can show that it doesn't justforce you to eat less food because youhave a small pouch for a stomach."

Schreiber compares the impact ofbariatric surgery to that of the coronarybypass 40 years ago. Similar to the peoplesaved from heart disease since then, thissurgical option offers a weapon to fightobesity and the diseases such as diabetes,sleep apnea and high blood pressure thataccompany it.

"For the first time, there is a viable,legitimate procedure that can help someof these people who would otherwisehave no options," he says.

Schreiber's family immigrated toAmerica from Germany in 1956,when hewas 14. In Europe, they had bouncedamong five different displaced-personscamps for two years after fleeing theCommunist regime of their home country,Yugoslavia.

As a student at Kent State University inthe early 1960s, Schreiber loved the sci-ences and math, but soon found them tobe "somewhat dry." So, to fulfill his desireto help people, he switched to pre-med.He was accepted into The Ohio StateUniversity's medical school in 1966.

There, he met the late Dr. Robert M.Zollinger Sr., considered one of the

fathers of modern surgery. Zollingerhelped shape Schreiber as a surgeon anddrove him to achieve an award for distin-guished services as a student, he says. Yet,Zollinger, renowned as a tyrant to his res-idents, also prompted Schreiber to departColumbus and take a residency positionat University Hospitals of Cleveland.

At UH, Schreiber met pioneeringbariatric surgeon Dr. Walter Pories, whowas chairman of surgery during hisresidency. Pories drew him into the spe-cialty and invited Schreiber to stay atMetroHealth Medical Center as anattending surgeon and faculty member,which he did from 1975 until 1981.WhenPories departed to become chairman ofsurgery at East Carolina Medical School,Schreiber remained as the only facultymember promoting bariatric surgery.

Another of his mentors at UH, the lateDr. William Holden, inspired Schreiber'slove for teaching, which led him to acceptthe task of resurrecting a struggling resi-dency program at the then Huron RoadHospital in the 1980s. Schreiber left toassume a similar role at St. Luke's MedicalCenter until 1997, when he became med-ical director for the Cleveland Center forBariatric Surgery at St. Vincent.

Schreiber recently debuted an innova-tive stomach-marking procedure forbariatric patients so that, should they everrequire other abdominal surgeries, thesurgeon would know that their anatomyhad been altered by the gastric bypass.Additionally, he recently received a com-mendation from Mayor Jane Campbellfor his tireless efforts to promote havingtwo fully trained surgeons in the operat-ing room during a bariatric procedure, asafety practice that more hospitals haveadopted as the field continues to expand.

He is also an adamant proponent ofproviding bariatric patients with a com-

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plete support network to address thenutritional and psychological elements ofthe life-transforming surgery.

"Dr. Schreiber is just a very good per-son who is dedicated to the hospital andto the patients that he serves," says Sr.Judith Ann Karam, president and CEO ofSisters of Charity of St. Augustine HealthSystem in Cleveland. "Asmedical director,he ensures that our doctors treat thewhole person, not just provide a technicalsurgery, to help them achieve successfulweight loss."

That holistic approach recently earnedSchreiber national attention, when heattained the No. 2 rank among 100prominent physicians in the "LivesTransformed" category of a survey of150,000 patients by Obesity Help maga-

zine. The doctor who finished first is aFlorida surgeon who actually underwentthe surgery himself. "I'm not willing to goto that extreme," Schreiber says with alaugh. (His partner, Dr. IndukumarSonpal, was No.8 on the list.)

"In addition to their health problems,morbidly obese patients are discriminat-ed against in society," Schreiber says. "Sowhen you lift that yoke off of their shoul-ders, they are grateful, and it's justremarkable to see the transformation intheir lives."

Chris Unsinger concurs. After havingthe surgery two years ago, her weightplummeted from 298 to 130 pounds. Shealso rid herself of her diabetes and highblood pressure.

"Dr. Schreiber brought me a new life,"

PHOTO· DANNY VEGA

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says Unsinger, who now works as anadministrative assistant in the bariatricdepartment at St. Vincent. "I'm a bettermom to my two boys. I have no moreaches and pains. I'm not embarrassed,and I have more self-esteem, so I'm moreoutgoing and a lot more active."

When he's not performing his profes-sional duties, Schreiber enjoys trout fishing,photography and crafting various inven-tions on the metalworking equipment inhis basement. He also enjoys spending timewith his four children, one of whom is nowa neurosurgeon, and his wife of 36years, themention of whom leads the affable physi-cian to giveone last credit for his success."Ifyou were to ask me what one person influ-enced my career the most, it's got to be mywife, Helen," he says.

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