Robert Cywes Dual Board Certified in Adult General Surgery and Pediatric Surgery

Dr. Cywes is Dual Board Certified in General Surgery and in Pediatric Surgery. He specializes in METABOLIC HEALTHCARE including Pediatric and Adult obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, lipidology, metabolic brain development including Autism Spectrum Disorder, PCOS, Lipedema and other endocrine disorders. Dr Cywes is a strong proponent of Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction Dr Cywes works in a private practice alongside lowcarb specialist RD Dieticians, Certified Diabetic Educators and psychologists and psych Nurse Practitioners focused on behavioral health transformation.

Dr Cywes received his medical degree from The University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1987. He moved to North America and studied at Ohio State University's Columbus Children's Hospital before moving to Canada where he completed his general surgery residency at the University of Toronto as well as earning his PhD in liver metabolism and immunology and the effect of glucose metabolism on vascular endothelium inflammation and coagulation. After completing his pediatric surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Dr. Cywes was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pediatric and Fetal Surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where he became increasingly interested in adolescent obesity and the impact of carbohydrates on the liver and endocrine/metabolic syndrome in young patients. Dr. Cywes’ research led to a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of chronic excessive carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of obesity and so-called obesity-related co-morbidities, particularly diabetes and vascular inflammatory disorders. In the late 1990s Dr Cywes understood that the prevailing treatment of obesity using a Calories in, Calories out (CICO) model was erroneous, and he developed the Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Obesity and Diabetes (CIMOD). Using this model in combination with his understanding of the psychology of addiction, in 2004 he developed a clinical Metabolic Health program and put together a team of practitioners to treat obese children, adolescents and adults using this approach that has become an internationally recognized Center of Excellence for obesity and metabolic management. using cognitive behavioral therapy addressing carbohydrates as addictive substances to help patients manage the cause of their disease and establish remission.

Dr. Cywes lectures internationally regarding the physiological impact of carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of the worldwide Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCDs) epidemic including pediatric brain development, PCOS and gestational diabetes.  He also lectures on the behavioral aspects of carbohydrate addiction as the cause of obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities and the use of substance abuse methodology, rather than a diet and exercise approach, to the effective long term treatment of obesity. He recently co-authored several chapters in the new Metabolic Health textbook: Ketogenic: The Science of Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction in Human Health.

Dr. Cywes is a Founder Member and on the Board of Directors of SMHP the Society for Metabolic Health Practitioners. He is a member of ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) and is a member of the ASMBS Childhood Obesity Committee. He is a member of APSA (American Pediatric Surgery Association) and sits on the APSA Childhood Obesity Committee. He has earned a Centers of Excellence designation by the Surgical Review Corporation.