Hilary Blackwood, NP

Hilary Blackwood received her bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She worked for several years in critical care nursing, caring for burn and trauma patients, first as a bedside care nurse, then as a Nurse Manager. She has also practiced as a Nutrition Support Nurse. She obtained her Master's degree in Nursing and an advanced degree as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville Virginia. While in Virginia, she had the opportunity to work with the highly respected Weight Loss Surgery Program at the University of Virginia for two years until she was recruited to join our program in October, 2002.

Within the Duke Weight Loss Surgery Program Blackwood has assumed responsibility for the clinical management of both pre-operative and post-operative Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Lap-Band® patients. To this end, she performs the initial history and physical examinations, coordinates and evaluates the preoperative studies, and provides long-term postoperative care.
Another of her important activities is the organization and management of the very valuable Duke Weight Loss Surgery Patient Support Group.