Philip R. Schauer, MD, Named 2015 Winner of Cleveland Clinic Sones Innovation Award
CHARLESTON, SC, March 11, 2016 – This year’s Sones Innovation Award has been bestowed upon Philip R. Schauer, MD, for collaborative advancements in Bariatric Surgery and Diabetes research.
Dr. Schauer and his multi-disciplinary team designed a randomized clinical trial to compare traditional medical therapy and bariatric surgery to determine which strategy was more effective at controlling diabetes. After one year, results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2014) reporting landmark results that in obese patients with uncontrolled Type II Diabetes Mellitus, 42% of bariatric patients had normal blood sugar versus only 12% of patients with intensive medical therapy alone. Bariatric surgery represents a potentially useful strategy for the management of Type II Diabetes, allowing many patients to reach and maintain therapeutic targets of glycemic control that otherwise would not be achievable with intensive medical therapy alone. Some patients in the study had complete diabetes remission, whereas others had a marked reduction in the need for pharmacologic treatment. Bariatric surgery has been cited as one of the key advances in diabetes in nearly 200 years.
Dr. Schauer was selected by an anonymous review committee. The award recognizes innovative practices in healthcare in memory of F. Mason Sones, MD, a Cleveland Clinic Cardiologist who pioneered the imaging of arterial blockages, thereby laying the groundwork for modern Cardiology.
Philip R. Schauer, M.D., is President of the Board of Directors for SE Healthcare Quality Consulting which provides innovative platforms to help empower physicians to measure and improve performance, reduce risk, as well as maximize revenues. He is currently a Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine; Chief of Minimally Invasive General Surgery; and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute (BMI). He is the past President of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
