Sam Blackwell, M.D. — What Have You Got to Lose?
by Iana Dealey
August 2010
Dr. Sam Blackwell is fearless at 50 years old, leaving an established two-decade family medical practice to start a new business in an unsteady economy, with two teenagers quickly approaching college age and another not far behind. But he doesn’t think of himself as fearless; he just likes to help people, always follows his passion, and lives his motto: "What have you got to lose?"
Sam’s motto is now his slogan at Peak Nutrition and Weight Loss Clinic in Apex, and at his second clinic opening in Holly Springs this month. His new passion for helping treat America’s #1 killer — obesity — came after watching a close family friend struggle for decades with both social and physical ramifications related to his weight, and from treating a growing number of patients at his private family medical practice for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and stroke — all directly related to being overweight or obese.
While as a medical doctor he had urged thousands of his patients to lose weight, he discovered that what they really needed was help in the way of education and a real-life strategy to guide them to achieving a healthy weight and maintaining it.
"Unfortunately there are many people who are either misinformed or simply prejudicial in how they approach the treatment of the overweight," Sam says." What we need is a better understanding of the root causes of obesity."
In his research, Sam learned that to help he would need to unveil all sources that contribute to weight gain, and design a multiple prong approach to a solution covering nutrition, education, behavior modification and lifestyle changes, all medically supervised in a comprehensive weight loss program.
So, just like that in 2007, Sam earned his board certification in Bariatric Medicine, hired a staff of licensed dieticians, behavioral modification specialists, and nurses — what he calls his ‘toolbox for effective weight management’ — and embarked on a new career.
This wasn’t the first time Sam had taken a leap of faith. After graduating from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1987, he left his family in his native St. Petersburg, FL and came to the Triangle. While completing his residency at Duke University Medical Center, he decided to make North Carolina his home. He married his wife Sandy in 1988, whom he’d met in medical school, and settled in Apex to start a family.
When he’s not working, Sam enjoys traveling with his wife and kids, playing with his three Jack Russell Terriers, and staying active by walking every day with his wife. He is active in his church and is an avid reader, mostly of historical fiction, and especially novels about British naval history.
Sam says that helping his patients with health risks overcome them by achieving a healthy weight and lifestyle is the motivation fueling his passion today, and he hopes to open several clinics in the Triangle region over the next decade.
But he admits that he’s not sure what’s in store for him when he’s 60 or 70, or if a new passion for helping others will develop and steer him in yet another new direction. He does note that if it does, however… whatever it is… you can be sure he’ll follow it.
Iana Dealey is the owner of Ideal Marketing & Public Relations, Inc., idealmarketingandpr.com.