Judy Tsurutani, R.N., B.S.N., C.B.N.

Judy Tsurutani received her Bachelor’s degree in nursing and public health nurse certification from California State University, Sacramento in 1992 and received a Masters in Science in Nursing, specializing in nursing education at Capella University. She also has received her certification from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Starting out as a staff nurse at Sutter Memorial working as a medical oncology nurse, Judy eventually returned back to school to receive her Bachelor’s degree in nursing she did her specialty rotation at UC Davis Medical Center in the Trauma Clinic, after graduating she was hired as a Clinical Nurse II relief charge nurse in the Trauma/Neuroscience Clinic.

In 1999 Judy started working in the surgery clinic as the relief charge nurse in the specialty of GI, Burns, Plastics, Vascular, Cardiothoracic and Trauma. Currently Judy is the Bariatric Nurse Coordinator, for the Bariatric Program, alongside a multidisciplinary group of surgeons, nurse practitioners and dietitians. Judy’s role as a coordinator includes: facilitating the pre-op teaching, greets all newly referred patients and discuss the timeline of surgery dates, triage and problem solve any programmatic issues and administer patient care as needed.

In the last several years the Bariatric Program has been visited by the Office of the President and the ASMBS. Judy has helped coordinate and gathered information regarding the program, with that the program was deemed “The Center of Excellence” by the SRC. Judy has been recognized by the Department of Surgery as well as her peers with multiple “Excellence in Nursing” awards during her career at the UC Davis Health System.