UAMS Health Weight Management Clinic Adds Bariatric Surgery to Weight Loss Offerings
| LITTLE ROCK — Effective today, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has added bariatric surgery to the weight loss options offered at the UAMS Health Medical and Surgical Weight Management Clinic.
“We are pleased to be able to offer bariatric surgery to our patients who have been unable to lose weight using other interventions such as medication, exercise or dietary changes,” said Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, UAMS chancellor and CEO of UAMS Health. “We know obesity is a disease that affects far too many in our state, and we are committed to helping Arkansans lose weight effectively and safely.”
Arkansas has an adult obesity rate of 40%, the third highest among all states and the District of Columbia, according to a 2024 study by the Trust for America’s Health.
The UAMS Health Medical and Surgical Weight Management Clinic helps willing and committed patients lose weight and improve their weight-related complications. Its surgical and medical teams offer two different and individualized approaches to help patients achieve their personal health goals.
Medical weight management is a nonsurgical, personalized and comprehensive approach combining lifestyle changes, behavioral therapy, medications and professional guidance to achieve weight loss.
The UAMS Health Medical Weight Management team is led by Monica Ferrero, M.D., and Yasthil Vijay Jaganath, M.D., MPH, both assistant professors in the College of Medicine Department of Family and Preventive Medicine who began seeing patients in the weight management clinic in January. They are triple board-certified in family medicine, obesity medicine and lifestyle medicine.
The UAMS Health Surgical Weight Management Program provides effective surgical solutions for weight loss and the management of obesity-related health conditions. Its dedicated team collaborates closely with the medical weight management specialists to develop a personalized care plan tailored to each patient’s health needs. By using a comprehensive approach that combines nutrition, exercise and psychosocial support, UAMS helps patients achieve their weight loss goals and enhance their overall health.
The surgical weight management team is led by Martha M. Estrada, M.D., and Lexie H. Vaughn, M.D., both assistant professors in the College of Medicine Department of Surgery.
Vaughn, who joined UAMS in July 2024, specializes in minimally invasive and bariatric surgery. Estrada, a transplant surgeon at UAMS, largely will focus on patients in need of a kidney or liver transplant who don’t qualify for one because of their weight.
“In the United States, too many of our transplant patients are unable to receive lifesaving organs because their weight poses a barrier to safe transplant,” Estrada said. “Bariatric surgery offers these patients a second chance.”
Both surgeons are trained in robotic surgery techniques and use the da Vinci surgical system.
Rounding out the clinic’s team of providers are Rebekka Amick, APRN, and Kaitlin Shonnard, PA-C.
The UAMS Health Medical and Surgical Weight Management Clinic is located in the UAMS Outpatient Center on the Little Rock campus. To make an appointment, please call 501-526-7877.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###