David Oliak Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

David Oliak, M.D. Dr. Oliak is a board-certified, fellowship-trained surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive (laparoscopic and robotic) weight loss surgery. He has been in practice in Orange County, California, since 2002, has completed more than 3000 operations, and has a track record of excellent patient outcomes.* Dr. David Oliak is the founder of the Oliak Center for Weight Loss. He started the Oliak Center because he wanted to provide weight loss surgery done right. His commitment has always been to provide the kind of care that he himself would want to receive. Dr. Oliak is affiliated with only the best bariatric hospitals and surgery centers in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Dr. Oliak is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO). Growing up in Wisconsin, Dr. Oliak knew from a young age that he wanted to be a doctor. To pursue that dream, he chose to attend Northwestern University for pre-med. But once he was in college, he switched his major and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. However, a summer internship with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati helped him realize that it was medicine that was his true calling. He then attended prestigious Washington University in St. Louis for his medical degree. He scored so highly on his MCAT test that he taught MCAT prep courses for Kaplan, Inc. as a side job during that time. In medical school, Dr. Oliak decided to be a surgeon. When he graduated, he was awarded the Dr. Harvey Butcher Prize in Surgery, which the Department of Surgery gives to the one graduating student they believe shows the greatest promise for a career in surgery. Dr. Oliak left the Midwest for sunny southern California when he did his general surgery residency at Harbor-UCLA in Los Angeles. While he was there, he decided to specialize in bariatric surgery because he felt the weight loss surgery field had the happiest patients. Dr. Oliak saw that the new laparoscopic techniques would soon transform the way bariatric surgery was done, so he pursued one of the first laparoscopic weight loss surgery fellowships in the country at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. After completing his fellowship training in 2002, Dr. Oliak returned to California to start his career as a weight loss surgeon in Los Angeles and Orange County. He founded the Oliak Center for Weight Loss and was one of the first surgeons in the area to do weight loss surgery laparoscopically.

• Michael Russo — Fountain Valley, CA