David Sarwer

David B. Sarwer (born January 4, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American clinical psychologist who serves as the Associate Dean for Research, Director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education, and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Public Health at Temple University.

Education 

Sarwer graduated from Forest View High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois in 1986. He received his B.A. in 1990 from Tulane University, graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with Honors in Psychology. He subsequently received his M.A. in 1992 and his doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 1995 from Loyola University of Chicago. He then completed his internship year at the Medical College of Pennsylvania at Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Career 

Sarwer began his career as a post-doctoral fellow at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania from 1995-1997.  From 1997-2004, he served as Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Surgery. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and Professor in 2012.   While at Penn, he served as Director of Clinical Services at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, Director of the Stunkard Weight Management Program, as well as Consulting Psychologist to both the Center for Human Appearance and Division of Plastic Surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2015, he became Associate Dean for Research, Director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education, and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Public Health at Temple University.

Much of Sarwer’s work has focused on the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of extreme obesity and Bariatric surgery. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2002. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief for the journal Obesity Science and Practice. He also serves as Senior Associate Editor for the journal Health Psychology, Associate Editor for the journal Obesity Surgery, and is on the Editorial Board of the American Psychologist, Childhood Obesity, and Surgery for the Treatment of Obesity and Related Diseases.

Sarwer also maintains a line of research on the psychological aspects of physical appearance and, more specifically, both reconstructive and cosmetic plastic surgery. Much of his early work in this area focused on the relationship between body image, body dysmorphic disorder, and cosmetic surgery.   More recently, his work has focused more on physical disfigurement and reconstructive procedures. This includes several grants from the Department of Defense looking at the use of vascularized composite allotransplantation procedures to treat military veterans who have suffered devastating injures while in service to United States Military. Sarwer currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Aesthetic Surgery Journal and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Selected publications

Books 
 
 
 Still CD, Sarwer DB, Blankenship J (eds). The SMBS Textbook of Bariatric Surgery. Volume 2: Integrative Health. Springer, New York, NY, 2014. ISBN 978-1493911967.

Obesity and bariatric surgery 
Gasoyan H, Halpern MT, Tajeu G, Sarwer DB. Impact of insurance plan design on bariatric surgery utilization. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2019 Oct;15(10):1812-1818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2019.07.022. Epub 2019 Aug 5. PMID 31515131; PMCID: PMC6834903.
Parks EP, Finnerty DD, Panganiban J, Frasso R, Bishop-Gilyard C, Tewksbury CM, Williams NN, Dumon KR, Cordero G, Hill DL, Sarwer DB. Perspectives of adolescents with severe obesity on social media in preparation for weight-loss surgery: a qualitative study. BMC Pediatrics. 2020;20:96-102. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-020-1992-7
Gasoyan H, Soans R, Ibrahim JK, Aaronson WE, Sarwer DB. Do Insurance-mandated Precertification Criteria and Insurance Plan Type Determine the Utilization of Bariatric Surgery Among Individuals With Private Insurance? Medical Care. 2020;58:952-957. https://doi.org/10.1097%2FMLR.0000000000001358
Brown JC, Sarwer DB, Troxel AB, Sturgeon K, DeMichele AM, Delinger CS, Schmitz KH. A randomized trial of exercise and diet on body composition in survivors of breast cancer with overweight or obesity. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-021-06284-7
Brown JC, Sarwer DB, Troxel AB, Sturgeon K, DeMichele AM, Delinger CS, Schmitz KH. A randomized trial of exercise and diet on health-related quality of life in survivors of breast cancer with overweight or obesity. Cancer 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fcncr.33752
Gasoyan H, Ibrahim JK, Aaronson WE, Sarwer DB. The role of health insurance characteristics in utilization of bariatric surgery. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. 2021;17:728-734. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.soard.2021.01.024
Sarwer DB, Wadden TA, Ashare RL, Spitzer JC, McCuen-Wurst C, LaGrotte C, Williams NN, Edwards M, Tewksbury C, Wu J, Tajeu G, Allison KC. Psychopathology, disordered eating, and impulsivity in patients seeking bariatric surgery. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. 2021;17:516-524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2020.11.005
Legro RS, Hansen KR, Diamond MP, Steiner AZ, Coutifaris C, Cedars MI, Hoeger KM, Usadi R, Johnstone EB, Haisenleder DJ, Wild RA, Barnhart KT, Mersereau J, Trussell JC, Krawetz SA, Kris-Etherton PM, Sarwer DB, Santoro N, Eisenberg E, Huang H, Zhang HP. Reproductive Medicine Network. Effects of Preconception Lifestyle Intervention in Infertile Women with Obesity: The FIT-PLESE Randomized Controlled Trial. PLOS Medicine. 2022;19(1)No. e1003883. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003883
Gasoyan H, Soans RS, Ibrahim JK, Aaronson WE, Sarwer DB. Association Between Insurance-Mandated Precertification Criteria and Inpatient Healthcare Utilization During 1 Year After Bariatric Surgery. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. 2022;18:271-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soard.2021.10.007
Allison KC, Wu JW, Spitzer JC, McCuen-Wurst C, Ashare RL, Tewksbury C, LaGrotte CA, Wadden TA, Williams NN, Sarwer DB. Changes in Eating Behaviors and Their Relation to Weight Change 6 and 12 Months after Bariatric Surgery. Obesity Surgery, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-022-06442-w

Body image and plastic surgery 
Jamrozik, A., Oraa Ali, M., Sarwer, D. B., & Chatterjee, A. (2019). More than skin deep: Judgments of individuals with facial disfigurement. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13(1), 117–129. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/aca0000147
Hartung, F., Jamrozik, A., Rosen, M.E. et al. Behavioural and Neural Responses to Facial Disfigurement. Sci Rep 9, 8021 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44408-8
Patel V, Mazzaferro DM, Sarwer DB, Bartlett SP. Beauty and the Mask. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open. 2020;8:30-48 https://doi.org/10.1097/gox.0000000000003048
Crerand CE, Rumsey N, Kazak A, Clarke A, Rausch J, Sarwer DB. Sex differences in perceived stigmatization, body image disturbance, and satisfaction with facial appearance and speech among adolescents with craniofacial conditions. Body Image. 2020;16:190-198.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.01.005
Kelly PJ, D’Avanzo PA, Shanker A, Suppes K, Frankel AS, Sarwer DB. The Relationship Between Gender-Affirming Procedures, Body Image Quality of Life, and Gender Affirmation. Transgender Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2021.0081
Siminoff LA, Alolod GP, Davis EE, McGregor HR, Litsas DC, Sarwer DB, Mulvania PA, Hasz RD, Gardiner HM. Evaluation of an eLearning System to Train Health Professionals to Communicate about Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation with Donor Families. Progress in Transplantation. 2022;32:233-240. https://doi.org/10.1177/15269248221107040
Gardiner HM, Davis EE, Alolod GP, Sarwer DB, Siminoff LA. A Mixed-Methods Examination of Public Attitudes Toward Vascularized Composite Allograft Donation and Transplantation. Sage Open Medicine, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121221125379

References 

1968 births
Living people
Tulane University alumni
Loyola University Chicago alumni
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania faculty
American clinical psychologists