He earned his medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical School, then returned to California for his surgery residency at the University of California at San Diego, where he won the Department of Medicine’s Halasz Award for surgical consultation and the Department of Surgery’s Chairman’s Prize for teaching and service excellence. From there, he went on to earn a master’s degree in applied physics from Columbia University. After graduating from Acalanes High School in Lafayette he ventured cross-country to coastal Maine, where he graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College with a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics. Brian Chin was born and raised in the Bay Area. Chin and all of the staff involved in my life saving/changing surgery.ĭr. The only regret I have is not having this surgery sooner. There are so many accomplishments that have come from losing weight like shopping in the regular size section, fitting in any chair, crossing my legs, not having to ask for an extension on the airplane, and the list goes on. I swim a mile five days a week, and walk three to four miles every day, and I enjoy it. My confidence has returned, and I am so much happier now that I am 100 pounds lighter. I can walk and move around without being short of breath. My knees, back, and ankles don’t hurt anymore because I am not carrying so much weight. I am no longer on blood pressure medicine, and I am no longer pre-diabetic. As the weight loss kept happening, I was gaining my health back. Soon, I was amazed at the transformation I was having, both in my weight loss and with my attitude towards food. I was walking on the treadmill within two days. Surgery was a piece of cake (no pun intended). Those were just the medical conditions I had because of my weight. My back, knees, and ankles hurt most of the time, and I was always short of breath. I was pre-diabetic, and had high blood pressure. I was 310 pounds at my heaviest, pre-surgery. Chin, if I was too old for the surgery, and he said, “No one is too old to get healthy.” He was so very right. I was sleeved in October 2015, and it was the best decision I have ever made for myself. It was ten months of doctors’ appointments, weigh-ins, and medical tests. I started my weight-loss journey in December of 2014 by visiting Dr.