Terry Simpson, MD:  Scientist, Author, Cook,  Surgeon:

Dr. Simpson resides in Phoenix and his great passions are research, writing, teaching, surgery and cooking.  He received his bachelors, masters, and medical degree from  The University of Chicago . He has authored a number of scientific papers, as well as books, and a few blogs.  His current area of research involve satiety and stomach hormones, as well as their implication with various forms of surgery and diets.

Dr. Simpson, when not doing research – can be found in the operating room where he sees a small, but select group of patients.  While he performs weight loss surgery, his first rule for his patients is that they make changes to their lifestyles.  He attends most patient support group meetings, where he encourages them to adopt a better lifestyle by eating healthier, and often teaching them how to cook.  Always seeking better and more interesting foods, Dr. Simpson also exams diet plans from others with a skeptical, educated eye.

Dr. Simpson is deeply involved in Alaska Native affairs, currently sitting on the board of the Alaska Native Regional Medical Center, and South Central Foundation, a primary care center, where he advocates for better health care for all Alaska Natives.  The primary care center they run has won many awards,  most recently the Baldridge Award, and is often cited as an example of how primary care centers should be run (during normal hours patients can see a primary care physician within 30 minutes).

Born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska, the salmon capital of the world  (he once hated salmon – -but now loves it, fresh and wild like he enjoys most things),  his family goes back 10,000 years, coming to Alaska over the ice bridge on their way to Arizona for the winter.  That makes him an Alaska Native (Athabascan variety).  His grandfather came to Alaska in the 1890′s and his dad was mostly raised in an orphanage in Seward (wrote a book about those experiences – Jesse Lee Home: My Home by James L Simpson). His dad and mom have been married for over 60 years, and retired to Oregon. Terry’s brother still lives in Alaska – Copper Rail Depot in Copper Center, Alaska (where, like the rest, has authored a book). His mom is a “wizard” in the kitchen – and passed on her love of cooking.

Dr Simpson’s true loves are his wife, April, his son, JJ (born 7-20-2010), and his dog, Lucky.

 

More about research:

One of Dr. Simpson’s favorite pieces from his early work in molecular engineering was:

Post, L.E., Norrild, B., Simpson, T., and Roizman, B., Chicken Ovalbumin Gene Fused to a Herpes Simplex Virus Alpha Promoter and Linked to a Thymidine Kinase Gene is Regulated Like a Viral Gene. Molecular and Cell Biology, 1982; 2:233-240.

This represented the first time a non-prokaryotic gene was changed and regulated by a viral gene.  Dr. Simpson spent many fun years in Dr. Roizman’s laboratory, but discovered he loved people as much as research.

He spent a number of years doing vascular surgery- where developing a love for vessels and all things that clotted them he took an interest in lifestyle changes. This work was inspired when he was a surgeon for the Indian Health Service, and performed vascular surgery among the Pima Indians. While many said these Native Americans didnt have heart disease or vascular disease, Dr. Simpson showed they indeed had it in abundance:

Simpson, T., Peripheral Vascular Disease Among Native Americans: Pitfalls of the Vascular Examination in Patients with Diabetes.  The Provider, March 1993.

He still had some fun with trauma surgery – as in this paper where he wanted the name to be changed to something else, but the editors wouldn’t let him.

Phillips BJ; Matthews MR; Caruso DM; Kassir AA; Gregory MW; Simpson T Tension colothorax: a pleural effusion? J Trauma 1998 Jun;44(6):1091-3

As vascular surgery and laparoscopic surgery changed Dr. Simpson decided to focus on weight loss surgery, diet interventions, and hoping to help patients avoid vascular issues. He has been the medical editor for Obesity Magazine and now is working on several research projects:

Low BMI study- for patients who have a lower BMI but request weight loss surgery

Plication study – a new form of weight loss

Dietary interventions and weight loss- examining various modular diet plans

He is also working on some bench research, checking levels of appetite  hormones in rats, and hopefully people. The hormonal changes of weight loss, and how the weight loss procedures, and diets, alter the changes in hunger hormones.