Frank Chae, MD, is the Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery at HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge in Lone Tree, CO, and has more than two decades of experience in weight-loss surgery, performing well over 7,000 surgeries in his time. A pioneer in the field of bariatric surgery, Dr. Chae was among the first in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region to offer laparoscopic (minimally invasive, camera-assisted) bariatric surgery and Lap-Band surgery in the 1990s. Starting in 2015, he incorporated innovative advanced Robotic surgery using the DaVinci platform at HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge and offers highly specialized bariatric surgery to patients from Colorado and across the USA. His robotic experience goes back to 1996 when he was trained for AESOP robotics during his surgery fellowship at Washington, DC.  In 2019, Dr. Chae helped advance robotic surgery with Google in Silicon Valley where he took part in testing their new VERB advanced surgical robotic platform.

Today, Dr. Chae remains at the forefront of advancements to change the lives of patients from the South-Metro Denver area, Colorado Springs, and beyond. He was one of the first in the region to offer neurometabolic therapy (often called vBloc) for weight loss. Dr. Chae also offers expert gastric bypass surgery, gastric banding (Lap-Band and Realize Band), gastric sleeve, gastric plication and robotic bariatric surgery. Dr. Chae has been profiled on TV news programs including the nationally syndicated The Doctors, as well as local affiliates NBC CH9 News, CBS CH4 News, and ABC News.

Dr. Chae earned his medical degree from McGill University with a surgery clerkship from Mayo Clinic Minnesota and completed his surgical residency at Rutgers University. He then completed a surgical fellowship at the George Washington University Medical Center as well as postgraduate surgery studies at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1998, Dr. Chae founded Colorado’s first comprehensive laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery program for weight loss at the University of Colorado. There, he became among the first in the nation to offer laparoscopic weight-loss surgery.

In addition to changing patients’ lives through advanced weight-loss procedures, Dr. Chae is also an active advocate, teacher and researcher in the field. He served on the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment Obesity Treatment Panel and was a site inspector for the American College of Surgeons’ Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence accreditation. Dr. Chae is both a teacher and an examiner in laparoscopic bariatric surgery with the state and national educational programs for physicians, surgeons, residents and medical students. He has trained surgeons and residents on laparoscopic weight loss surgery as a professor and as the head of the University of Colorado bariatric surgery fellowship.

If you are considering weight loss surgery with Dr. Chae, please take our online survey to find out if you are a candidate.