Michael Steelman

2016 Distinguished Alumni

B.S. Zoology '69

Dr. G. Michael Steelman was raised in Haskell, Okla. He attended OSU from 1965-69, graduating with a B.S. in Zoology. After completing medical school at OU and post-graduate clinical training, he joined a general practice clinic in Holdenville, Okla.

 

In 1979 he relocated to Oklahoma City and became interested in treatment of eating disorders and obesity. He was medical director of the State’s first inpatient eating disorder program. Later, he restricted his practice to the medical management of obesity until his retirement in 2015.

 

He was Board Certified in Family Practice and the first Oklahoma physician to be Board Certified in Bariatric Medicine. He served as President of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP), and acted as a consultant to former Surgeon General, C. Everet Koop, in producing the nation’s first guidelines for the treatment of adult obesity. He has published several articles in medical journals and is one of only two physicians to be twice named Bariatrician of the Year by the ASBP. Dr. Steelman is co-editor of a textbook on the evaluation and treatment of obesity.

 

In 2007 Dr. Steelman created the first endowed scholarship to be awarded annually to a deserving student in the Department of Integrative Biology.