Robert Chastanet, MD

I went to college at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. I graduated in 1983. I then went directly to the military medical school, Uniform Services University of the health sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. I then did a surgical internship at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego California. Back then after your internship year new doctors went to the Fleet as a general medical officer. I went to the USS Long Beach, a nuclear power cruiser, as the only medical provider. Following 2 years which included around the world cruise, I went back to NMC San Diego to complete my general surgery residency. I then spent 2 years on the USS Constellation, a aircraft carrier, as the ship surgeon. I was then transferred to the East Coast and was the general surgeon on Fleet surgical team 4. When the aircraft carrier and the Fleet Surgical Team was not at sea, I was a junior staff at San Diego and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center respectively. From 2003-2004 The Navy sent me to the University of Texas at Houston for a 1 year advanced laparoscopy fellowship under Dr. Philip Leggett. It is there I started learning about bariatric/metabolic surgery. I then returned to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center and was assigned to the bariatric surgery service. 1 year later my partner, Dr. Jeffrey Lord, retired from the Navy. I ran the program there until I retired from the Navy in 2009 after 26 years of service. I then started a bariatric program at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center and was there for about 3 years. I then went into private practice and continue to operate at that hospital. I was in business with my wife, Dr. Rachel Chastanet, an internist who specialized in medical weight loss. I eventually also worked at Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth Virginia doing weight loss surgery there as well. That was a more established program and the higher risk heavier patients needed to be done there for insurance reasons. I then left Chesapeake Regional Medical Center and operated completely at Maryview until 2018. I now am an employee at Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth, New Hampshire. I am in the process of starting a program In New Hampshire with Dr. James Koren. He is also Bariatric surgeon who practiced in Pennsylvania. At this facility, I do not do revisional surgery, but continue to perform laparoscopic gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomies. I retired from full time employment on September 1, 2024 after 30 years being a general surgon. I am moving to Tennessee. I will continue to work PRN at Speare Memorial and do Locum Tenens work.