
An MD and bariatric and metabolic surgeon, this physician is the United Companies Life Insurance Co. / Mary Kay and Terrell Brown Endowed Chair and Professor of Metabolic Surgery at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University. He also serves as director of the Metamor Metabolic Institute, a partnership between Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. His clinical focus includes bariatric and metabolic surgery, revisional bariatric procedures, and advanced minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery. He has performed more than 9000 operations on 5 continents for severe obesity and diabetes. Research interests center on metabolic physiology and neuroendocrine regulation after surgery, comparative effectiveness and long-term outcomes of surgical and medical therapies, and innovation in minimally invasive techniques, multidisciplinary care delivery, and surgical training. He has authored more than 500 scientific papers, 60 textbook chapters, 4 textbooks with more than 53,000 citations and a H-index of 108. He is principal investigator of the STAMPEDE trail (New England Journal of Medicine) demonstrating that diabetes can be resolved with surgery. A recognized leader in the field, he is past president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, founder and former general chair of ObesityWeek, and co-chair of the Diabetes Surgery Summit. Honors include the F. Mason Sones Award for Scientific Innovation at Cleveland Clinic, the SAGES Pioneer in Surgical Endoscopy Award and IFSO Pioneer in Metabolic Surgery Award. He previously directed major bariatric and minimally invasive surgery programs at Cleveland Clinic and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, completed a general surgery residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and pursued fellowship training in advanced laparoscopy and minimally invasive surgery at Duke University Medical Center.
Professor
Medical School
1982 – 1986
Residency
1986 – 1993
Fellowship
1994 – 1995