Cywes, Robert, MD, PhD was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa where he completed medical school and general surgery training. In 1989 he spent a year at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio before moving to Toronto, Canada to complete his surgical training. In Toronto, Dr. Cywes specialized in minimally invasive surgery then did neonatal at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. He also obtained his PhD in transplantation immunology at the University of Toronto. He completed his Pediatric Surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. He was recruited to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee as a pediatric surgeon. Here Dr. Cywes joined the renown Vanderbilt Fetal Surgery Program and was active clinically and in the laboratory as a fetal surgeon.

Dr. Cywes then relocated to Jacksonville, Florida. He frequently consulted with obese children and performed surgeries for conditions related to their obesity. He began to take a special interest in obesity prevention versus management. He came to the realization that no one was really addressing obesity and that ignoring this complete disease process was not sound medicine. In 2003, Dr. Cywes established Jackson Surgical Associates/Jacksonville Weight Loss Center.

Dr. Cywes was the first surgeon in the Jacksonville area to be certified to perform the adjustable gastric band surgery. To date, he has performed the adjustable gastric band surgery on adolescents and adults and he has the most extensive experience with the adjustable gastric band in North Florida. His unique background in both pediatrics and general surgery contributes to the compassion and dedication that he shows to his patient population.