Eric J. DeMaria, M.D., FACS
Chairman, Research Advisory Committee Director
Duke Health System Weight Loss Surgery Program
Durham, North Carolina

Dr. DeMaria is the program director for the Duke Weight Loss Surgery Program. He joined Duke University in July 2005 where he was named chief of programs in Endosurgery and Obesity Surgery, Chief of Duke Surgery at Durham Regional Hospital, and vice chairman of Duke Network General Surgery. Dr. DeMaria received his medical degree at the Boston University School of Medicine in 1983, and then completed seven years of general surgical training at Brown University. He previously served on the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University and led the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center and the Obesity Surgery Center. He is nationally known for his contributions to bariatric, advanced laparoscopic, and minimally invasive surgery and is an active member of the American College of Surgeons, Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons and the ASMBS. Dr. DeMaria and his program are designated as an ASMBS BSCOE^®.

Mohamed Ali, M.D., FACS
Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery
Director, Minimally Invasive, Robotic and Bariatric Surgery
Davis, California

Dr. Ali is the Director, Minimally Invasive, Robotic and Bariatric Surgery at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine and directs the minimally invasive surgery practice for UC Davis Health System. He specializes in the application of minimally invasive surgical techniques to conventional surgery, surgery of the foregut including reflux and achalasia, and laparoscopic bariatric surgery. His research focuses on long-term outcomes and co-morbidity reduction in bariatric surgery, applying emerging technology and robotics to laparoscopy, and investigating the genetic and hormonal bases for obesity. Dr. Ali received his medical degree in 1995 from the Medical University of South Carolina and is certified by the American Board of Surgery. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association and Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons. Dr. Ali and his program are designated as an ASMBS BSCOE.

Steven H. Belle, Ph.D., M.Sc.Hyg.
Co-Director
Epidemiology Data Center
Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Department of Epidemiology
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dr. Belle is a co-director of the Epidemology Data Center and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He received a M.Sc.Hyg. in Biostatistics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975, followed by a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 1984. Dr. Belle is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. His research interests include designing, coordinating and analyzing data from clinical trials and patient and procedure registries. His major areas of application include aging (especially cognitive impairment, dementia, and caregiving), liver-related diseases and issues (especially hepatitis C and liver transplantation) and bariatric surgery. Many of his studies examine quality of life.

Robert E. Brolin, M.D.
New Jersey Bariatrics
Plainsboro, New Jersey
Associate, Graduate Faculty
Applied Human Nutrition/Dietetics
Department of Engineering
Rutgers University
Brunswick, New Jersey

Dr. Brolin is in private practice with New Jersey Bariatrics. A teacher his entire career, he is currently an Associate, Graduate Faculty in both the Applied Human Nutrition/Dietetics and the Department of Engineering at Rutgers University. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. A board certified surgeon, Dr. Brolin received his medical degree from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1974. He has published 60 publications in medical journals, 16 chapters in medical textbooks and 40 published abstracts, and has participated in 120 national/international lectures. He is a member and past president of the ASMBS. Dr. Ali and his program are designated as an ASMBS BSCOE.

Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D., M.H.A.
Director, Public Health Economics Program
RTI International
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

Dr. Finkelstein is a health economist and Director of RTI’s Public Health Economics Program. Dr. Finkelstein holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics and a M.H.A. from the University of Washington in Seattle. He currently conducts economic and health policy research at RTI and teaches the undergraduate health economics course at Duke University. He focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health behaviors, with a primary emphasis on behaviors related to obesity and injuries. Dr. Finkelstein recently completed a text entitled The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What To Do About It. He is Co-Principal Investigator (PI) and Associate Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded RTI/UNC Center of Excellence in Health Promotion Economics and currently leads several multiyear projects to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of select interventions aimed at reducing rates of obesity and/or injuries.

Victor F. Garcia, M.D.
Director, Trauma Services
Associate Surgical Director
Comprehensive Weight Management Center
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio

Dr. Garcia is a board certified pediatric surgeon and director of Trauma Services at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and associate surgical director for the Cincinnati Children's Comprehensive Weight Management Center. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine in 1974; completed a surgical residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His research interests include pediatric injury research and control, chest-wall deformities, minimally invasive surgery, surgical weight loss, and minority health care. Dr. Garcia is a member of numerous professional organizations including the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons, Fellow, American Obesity Association, American Pediatric Surgical Association, ASMBS, and Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons.

Neil E. Hutcher, M.D., FACS
Chairman, Board of Directors
Surgical Review Corporation
Commonwealth Surgeons
Richmond, Virginia

Dr. Hutcher is the Chairman of the SRC Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee. He has served as the chairman of the Department of Surgery at St. Mary's Hospital and also as clinical associate professor of surgery at both the Medical College of Virginia and McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center. He received his medical degree in 1965 from the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Hutcher's clinical expertise is in bariatric surgery as well as general and laparoscopic surgery. His efforts have been directed toward education of the general public as well as legislative lobbying both on the federal and state level. He is past president of the ASMBS. Dr. Hutcher and his program are designated as an ASMBS BSCOE^®.

Dr. Mitchell is the NRI/Lee A. Christofferson, M.D. Professor and Chair of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Chester Fritz Distinguished University Professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences and President and Scientific Director of the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute. He received his medical degree from Northwestern University in 1972. Following an internship in Internal Medicine he completed his residency in Psychiatry and a Fellowship in Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. His research activities focus on the areas of eating disorders, obesity and bariatric surgery. He is past President of the Academy for Eating Disorders and the Eating Disorders Research Society. He is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Eating Disorders, the Eating Disorders Review, and Current Nutrition and Food Science. He has published more than 350 scientific articles and written or edited 13 books.

Walter J. Pories, M.D., FACS
Chairman Emeritus, Board of Directors
Surgical Review Corporation
Director, Metabolic Institute and
Professor of Surgery, Biochemistry, Exercise
and Sport Science
Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine  
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina

Dr. Pories is an experienced bariatric surgeon who serves as Director of the Metabolic Institute at East Carolina University (ECU). He is also the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded ECU National Center for the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery, as well as other research programs funded by the Johnson & Johnson Corporation and Golden LEAF. Dr. Pories has served as the president of the ASMBS and past president of the North Carolina Medical Board. He is a SRC founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Board. His facility is designated as an ASMBS BSCOE.

Harvey J. Sugerman, M.D., FACS
Emeritus Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University
Sanibel, Florida

Dr. Sugerman graduated from Johns Hopkins University and the Jefferson University School of Medicine in 1966. He spent two years in the Army in Nurenberg, Germany and as Lieutenant Colonel at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Dr. Sugerman began at the Virginia Commonwealth University in 1978, where he was the David M. Hume Professor of Surgery and Chief of the General Surgery and Trauma Division. He is retired from clinical practice and is Emeritus Professor of Surgery. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 20 books and 55 book chapters, many dealing with the improvement in obesity co-morbidity following surgically induced weight loss, as well as the first randomized trial comparing vertical banded gastroplasty to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. He is a past-president of the ASMBS and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD), the official peer-reviewed journal of the ASMBS.

Bruce M. Wolfe, M.D., FACS
Professor of Surgery
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, Oregon

Dr. Wolfe is Professor of Surgery at Oregon Health and Science University after relocating there from the University of California Davis where he was Professor of Surgery. He received his medical degree from St. Louis University in 1967 and did his fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wolfe is board certified and has devoted his surgical career to surgical nutrition and specifically obesity, including the surgical care of obese patients and related research. He has made many contributions to the advancement of the surgical treatment of obesity, including a demonstration of the many benefits of laparoscopic surgery. He presently serves as co-chair of the National Institutes of Health research consortium on bariatric surgery, known as LABS.