In 1939, Henry's father, who was forced to hide and evade capture by the Nazis in his birthplace of Hungary while he waited for a place on the U.S.'s Hungarian Jewish quota, arrived in New York.
Henry attended the Bronx High School of Science, and then Columbia College in New York City, graduating as class valedictorian with summa cum laude honor in 1954.
He pursued further studies by attending Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons from which he graduated in 1957 with an M.D.
[1] During his more than 50 years at the University of Minnesota, Buchwald has been a surgeon, teacher, mentor, researcher, and inventor.
He was the first Owen H. and Sarah Davidson Wangensteen Chair in Experimental Surgery from 2001 to 2004 and holds the post as Emeritus.
[3] His long-term research interests include cholesterol and atherosclerosis, obesity surgery, implantable devices, hyperlipidemias, and measurement of blood oxygen transport.
But it has been Dr. Buchwald's strong commitment to mentoring many young individuals (which he proudly lists in his curriculum vitae), including medical students, residents (both surgical and medical), and graduate students, that has made him a great academic role model.
In 1990, the results of the first 17 years of this study were presented in the New England Journal of Medicine[16] and at the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons.
The results from all phases of the POSCH study have contributed significant insights and long-term data related to cholesterol, heart disease, and smoking.
Buchwald, who has a joint appointment at the University of Minnesota in Biomedical Engineering, holds 17 patents for medical devices.
[17] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Buchwald's research has included: Type II diabetes and its reduction through bariatric surgery; oxygen transport and the development of a device to measure it; heart disease in women; and new technological approaches to bariatric surgery.
His newest title, Buchwald Atlas of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Techniques and Procedures, was published in fall 2011.