As a bariatric and minimally invasive surgeon, Dr. Lalezari, believes the procedures he performs is as much about the lives that are positively affected as it is about the weight loss or surgery itself. For instance, to take someone who has struggled with weight loss for their entire life, who are taking a multitude of medications, and then to see them be able to play with their kids, and go out and live a life that they couldn’t before is very rewarding.
Dr. Lalezari completed a bariatric and minimally invasive surgery fellowship (specialty training) at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Importantly, at Johns Hopkins, he learned the most cutting-edge procedures such as single-site surgery, robotic and endoscopic surgery truly incisionless surgery. As a result of training at Johns Hopkins he is in a unique position in private practice where he offers advanced cutting-edge surgery to the community in a boutique-style surgical practice.
Born in Iran, Dr. Lalezari moved to California with his family at age 4. With the help of a highly influential primary school teacher, he overcame early difficulty with learning the English language to become a high achiever, eventually graduating magna cum laude – and two years early – from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience.
As a result, he has always been dedicated to education and after college he spent some time as a high school biology teacher. Subsequently, he set off on his journey to become a physician.
After medical school, Dr. Lalezari trained throughout the United States, including Florida, New York, California, and at Minnesota’s prestigious Mayo Clinic. Although he studied neuroscience as an undergrad, he steered his career toward bariatrics and minimally invasive surgery after seeing the long-term effects that his care and weight loss could provide, as well as the long-term relationships he could develop with patients similar to that of his primary care doctor growing up who first inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.
As a bariatric surgeon he noted his love for bariatric surgery and weight loss stemmed from the transformation in patient’s lives. He went on to say, “The relationships that develop with patients over time is why I got into medicine in the first place, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything!
