Donald Waldrep Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

Dr. Waldrep and Dr. Lublin worked as a team and I have never been so impressed with the efficiency and caring nature of my treatment. The staff has been awesome, and I feel like they did most of the legwork for me to get approved for the surgery. The surgery itself was textbook, and I was out of the hospital in a day and have had no complications, not even nausea! I attribute that to the skilled hands of my doctors. I highly recommend Dr. Waldrep and Dr. Lublin!

I first met Dr. Lubline & Dr. Waldrep at an open house. They were very warm and both very bright! They both work at SCALES in Thousand Oaks, CA. Previously I lived in Michigan & I was on track to have the surgery there. The surgeon was OK, but was not very personable. Dr. Lublin & Dr. Waldrep are just the opposite. Dr. Lublin was the primary surgeon & he has a GREAT sence of humor & a GREAT bedside manner. He made me & my family feel very comfortable about everything. It was GREAT! I feel very lucky to have them as my surgeons. Additionally, the office staff is wonderful! I have gotten to know Ashley very well. She too is very personable & friendly!

From the first time I met Dr. Waldrep, I felt comfortable with him, and it just reconfirmed my decision that this surgery is the right thing for me. I had every confidence in Dr. Waldrep. He had performed about 1000 surgeries at the time, so I knew that I would be in good hands. His office staff has been so helpful and kind during the pre-op process. I called Trina and Tara constantly about insurance and lab test updates, and they were always so helpful and kind. Mike, his PA, is awesome! I have seen him for my post-op appointments, and he has answered all my questions and congratulated me on my success! If you live in the Sacramento area, this is the surgical team that I highly recommend.

If your surgeon is Dr. Donald Waldrep, you are in the best hands. His assistant Mike is as great as Dr. Waldrep. They are professional,kind,fun and know what the hell they ae doing! I had the lapband with Dr. Waldrep and it has been a wonderful success. I have lost 73 pounds since Sept. 23rd. Dr. Waldrep or Mike never rush you when you have an appointment. Your not in and out like most doctors. I have never felt so at home in a doctors office as I have felt in Dr. Waldreps office. I look forward to seeing both him and Mike because I know I am in good hands and its going to be an uplifting visit! Dr. Waldrep tells you everything there is to know about the procedure you choose. He gives you the good and the bad in detail. The hospital orientation was a great help also. Sutter Roseville hospital is a state of the art hospital. They really made me feel comfortable and right there with the pain medication. I never had to wait for anything. I give Dr. Waldrep, Mike and Sutter Roseville a standing ovation!

Dr Waldrep is a charming extremely experienced Bariatric surgeon who has performed over 1000 bypass surgeries. I found him to be very thorough in both my medical and personal history. His staff is friendly and always smiling and uplifting. You need to know that he will not move forward in any area until all questions and tests have been taken and evaluated. He went over all details both pre and post very carefully with me and left me with very few questions. He has a partner and medical associate named Matthew Lublin who is as proficent and thorough as he is. I spent most of my hospital visits with Dr. Lublin and found him to be equally encouraging and helpful.
I would rate both Doctors with an A+ and would recommend anyone thinking about this surgery to meet with Waldrep and Lublin to gain confidence and all the necessary info needed to move forward. Their surgical and professional cometence are impeccable!!

Only because Dr. Waldrep's surgical calendar is so full, you don't get to see him very often after the surgery, but he is available for phone calls anytime.

As a patient with a high BMI, I knew I had specific and special needs. My research brought me to Dr. Waldrep. Before I had selected a bariatric practice, I had a chance to talk with Dr. Waldrep personally regarding the challenges of a high BMI patient. I was very impressed with experience with high BMI patients. He didn't seem at all fazed with operating on someone of my size. Dr. Waldrep has easily done over 1000 RNY surgeries, and although offered the lap band, had never actually placed one. Despite the lack of experience, I was extremely confident in Dr. Waldrep's laparoscopic surgical skills and chose to go with his practice, SALSA.

When I was finally referred to him, he sent me away for approximately 3 months asking to lose weight. I was disheartened of course. I later learned that at that time, he had not done any lap bands and was waiting for a proctor to be assigned from Inamed to do his first couple of band surgeries. I wish he had mentioned that fact to me when he sent me away. He also said that his staff would follow up during my weight loss period, but unfortunately, no one from the office checked in with me at that time.

I came back 3 months later having lost 20lbs. Dr. Waldrep reluctantly agreed to do surgery, but because of scheduling conflicts and the holidays, my surgery was postponed another 3 months.

Prior to surgery, I was brought in again to do another check-up, this time with Dr. Waldrep's associate, Dr. Lublin. I mention this because my appt with Dr. Lublin was very distressing. He became angry with me (and very unprofessional) when I had gained back 16lbs over the Nov/Dec holiday period, tried to talk me into having gastric bypass, and outright cancelled my surgery. He told me that they could do surgery, but he wasn't going to ok it then because he wanted me to lose weight to prove to him that I had the mental discipline to work the band.

I came back a month later to check in again with Dr. Waldrep (to my relief). In 4 weeks, I lost 20lbs. He was pleased at my weight loss and wondered if I should continue losing more weight before surgery. At that point, my dear friend who was there with me, insisted that he do surgery, that to put it off again would be unfair, and unhealthy to my mental health.

I should mention that Dr. Waldrep's practice, SALSA was entirely geared to their gastric bypass patients. They have excellent knowledge, great aftercare, wonderful support group. SALSA has really made an effort to step up their lap band awareness procedures. We are still quite the minority in that office though (less than 15 to date I think).

Dr. Waldrep was extremely thorough in making sure I understood about both surgeries, and that I knew what to expect with the band. He warned me that at my size (72 BMI then) that I might have to be done open, maybe I would wake up in the ICU, or worse, wake up and not have the band placed at all. In the beginning, I was insulted that he dare question my research, but in retrospect, I understood why he did (perhaps other people might not have done the research that I did).

After 2 hours in surgery, I woke up in regular recovery, very pleased that Dr. Waldrep placed the band laparoscopically.

Dr. Waldrep heads a wonderful bariatric practice. With the exception of one bad experience, their entire staff has been extremely helpful and caring. I'm very glad I chose Dr. Waldrep. I chose him for his surgical experience, not necessarily his band experience.

I am very impressed by the program that Dr. Waldrep has in place. He is knowledgable and shares the information in an easy to understand manner. He has performed over 1,000 procedures and has an excellent track record.

My first impression of Dr. Waldrep was very favorable. He is an amazing physician who sincerely cares about the each of his patients. Office staff is professional and very caring. Dr. W. is very busy and so it is difficult to see him, however his assistant "Mike" is readily available and very caring. After care in the form of support group meetings is really emphasized. I do not think there is a really structured after care program however the support group is amazing. If I were to rate Dr. W. from 1-10 I'd have to give him a 12, he's that good! His surgical competence is there, bedside manner too. I have a PPO and while my surgery was pre-approved, going with Dr. W. meant I had to pay a large sum of money out of my own pocket. --I'd do it all over again. This surgery isn't one to be taken lightly and I feel the best surgeon is important.

He was very compassionate, sincere,qualified. I would trust my own relatives to have WLS with him.

My impression has never cahnged about him!!!

His office staff was wonderful,helpful and very efficent.

I was a little bothered by the fact that he was so sexy and young....and not tomention he was my neighbor.

He was very sensitive and caring person, and will work with you through the whole program.

He has a very structured aftercare program, for the first 2 yrs.

He was very informative on the risk, butr he felt I would have very little problems with WLS.

He is the best in my book.

EXCELENT

My first impression was "WoW he is gorgeous" and too young to be a doctor".
He is awsome. A great doctor and a really great patient person.