Dr. Kevin Helling is a board-certified general surgeon with a fellowship in advanced laparoscopy and weight-loss surgery at Harvard University. He is medical director of Wyoming Medical Center’s bariatric surgery program.

He was born in Laramie and raised in Casper. He attended medical school through the WWAMI program (an acronym for participating states – Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) and always wanted to return to the Cowboy State to practice medicine. His colleagues, however, were surprised.

“A lot of people with this kind of training in bariatrics and advanced laparoscopy end up working in a big university hospital. My colleagues thought it was great that I was returning to Wyoming to provide a service that, up until now, has not been available here,” he said.

Dr. Helling’s advanced laparoscopic techniques are minimally invasive, which means patients return to daily life in a shorter amount of time. He performs complex operations through keyhole incisions that minimize blood loss and damage to muscle and other tissue.

At Wyoming Medical Center, he performs laparoscopic gastric bypass, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and other weight-loss procedures as appropriate.

Dr. Helling practices at Wyoming Surgical Associates in Casper. He has authored numerous publications and textbook chapters, and he has presented his research at national and local scientific meetings.