Michael Baptista

Dr. Michael Baptista is a highly specialized laparoscopic obesity surgeon. He began his medical career in Brazil where he was born to Brazilian and American parents. Dr. Baptista received his medical degree at the Barbacena Medical School in Barbacena, Brazil. He went on to complete his general surgery training at the College of Medical Science in Belo Horizonte and earned the award of Most Distinguished Fellow in Thoracic Surgery. In 1992, Dr. Baptista relocated to the United States to complete an externship in surgery at the Brainerd Medical Center in Brainerd, Minnesota and then spent several years as a surgical research fellow at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Baptista continued his surgical training with a residency that included training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Rush University in Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. After finishing his residency and fellowship, Dr. Baptista became a Clinical Instructor in Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he earned a commendation for outstanding teaching of surgical students at Rush-Presbyterian-St.Luke’s Medical Center. While at the University of Illinois, he also completed a laparoscopic / robotic surgical fellowship. During his fellowship, Dr. Baptista developed an interest in obesity and decided to commit his professional career to obesity surgery and helping patients overcome obesity. In 2006, Dr. Baptista moved to Jacksonville, Florida to join Jacksonville Surgical Associates, specializing in obesity surgery and the treatment and management of obese patients. Dr. Baptista has been certified by Allergan Medical and Ethicon Endo-Surgery to perform gastric banding surgery. Dr. Baptista has published numerous research articles in the field