Board of Directors
Neil E. Hutcher, MD, FACS
Chairman, Board of Directors, and Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Quality and Compliance
Surgical Review Corporation
Raleigh, North Carolina
Dr. Neil Hutcher is Chairman of SRC’s Board of Directors, and the organization’s Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Quality and Compliance. He is an accomplished surgeon and a widely recognized leader in the advancement of surgical specialties, especially as it relates to patient education and advocacy on the federal and state levels. He began practicing medicine in Richmond in 1973 and, prior to joining SRC, held the position of Managing Director at Commonwealth Surgeons. Dr. Hutcher has served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at both the Medical College of Virginia and McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center. He is also a past president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). Dr. Hutcher received his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond and his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, where he also completed a residency in general surgery and specialty fellowship training in transplant surgery.
Gary M. Pratt
Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, and Chief Executive Officer
Surgical Review Corporation
Raleigh, North Carolina
Mr. Gary Pratt assisted in the startup of SRC and has served as CEO since its inception in 2003. He has spent a majority of his career in the healthcare and information technology industries, successfully launching seven companies and selling four of them. Mr. Pratt also served as a partner in the nation’s sixth-largest accounting firm and president of a division of Waste Management, a Fortune 500 company. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, with a degree in business administration.
Caroline M. Apovian, MD, FACP, FACN
Director, Nutrition and Weight Management Center, Boston Medical Center
Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Caroline Apovian represents bariatric physicians. She is Director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center and Director of the Nutrition Support Service at Boston University Medical Center. Dr. Apovian is an internationally recognized nutrition and obesity clinician and clinical scientist who has published more than 100 articles, editorials, abstracts, chapters and books. She is an associate editor of Obesity and the nutrition and obesity editor of Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity. Dr. Apovian was a recipient of the Physician Nutrition Specialist Award given by the American Society of Clinical Nutrition for her work on developing and providing nutrition education to medical students and physicians in training at Boston University School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed an internal medicine residency at New England Deaconess Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School.
Bret Petkus
Vice President, North America, Bariatric Advantage
President, The Petkus Group
Chicago, Illinois
Mr. Bret Petkus represents freestanding outpatient facilities. He is Vice President, North America, for Bariatric Advantage, and the Founder and President of The Petkus Group. Mr. Petkus has served in principal business positions at surgical device companies, surgical practices and surgical facilities since 1997, and founded a freestanding outpatient facility bariatric surgery program. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in general engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in various leadership capacities as an officer in the US Army.
Walter J. Pories, MD, FACS
Chairman Emeritus, Board of Directors, Surgical Review Corporation
Professor of Surgery, Biochemistry, Exercise and Sport Science, Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina
Dr. Walter Pories, Chairman Emeritus of the SRC Board of Directors, co-founded SRC and has held leadership positions since its inception. Dr. Pories is an experienced bariatric surgeon who serves as Professor of Surgery, Biochemistry, Exercise and Sport Science at East Carolina University (ECU). He is the principal investigator of the ECU National Center for the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery, funded by the National Institutes of Health, as well as other research programs funded by Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Golden LEAF Foundation. Dr. Pories previously served as the president of ASMBS and the North Carolina Medical Board, in addition to numerous other leadership positions. He is a recipient of the O. Max Gardner Award, given to one faculty member of the 16 schools in the University of North Carolina system for contributions to humanity. He is also a widely published cartoonist. Dr. Pories received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and MD with Honor from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed his residency in general and thoracic surgery at the University of Rochester. Dr. Pories served as a Commander during the First Gulf War and retired from the US Army with the rank of Colonel and a Legion of Merit after 24 years of service.
David B. Sarwer, PhD
Director of Clinical Services, Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dr. David Sarwer represents integrated health. He is Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as well as Director of Clinical Services at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. Dr. Sarwer is principal or co-principal investigator on four NIH-funded grants investigating the psychological aspects of bariatric surgery, and involved in two studies investigating the treatment of obesity in primary care settings. He is also a consultant to the Edwin Fannie Gray Hall Center for Human Appearance at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, where he conducts research on the psychological aspects of cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Sarwer received a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and both a master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago.
James W. Saxton, Esq.
Chairman, Health Care Litigation and Risk Management Group, and Co-Chairman, HealthLaw Group
Stevens & Lee
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Mr. James Saxton represents health law and professional liability. He serves on SRC’s Executive Committee and is Chairman of Stevens & Lee’s Health Care Litigation Group and Co-Chairman of the firm’s Health Law Group. He has represented physicians in state and federal courts for nearly 30 years. Mr. Saxton advises hospitals and bariatric surgeons on how to reduce their professional liability risk, and creates risk reduction strategies and educational programs to support them. He helped develop the Novus Insurance Company Risk Retention Group for bariatric and general surgeons, and has published more than 200 articles, several handbooks and several textbooks. Mr. Saxton is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and is on the Board of Directors for Surgical Excellence, LLC. He was recently inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America, reserved for less than one-half of one percent of the lawyers in the country. He has also been invited into the American Health Lawyers Association’s task force on Accountable Care Organizations. Mr. Saxton is the past chair of the American Health Lawyers Association Healthcare Liability and Litigation Practice Group. He is a member of numerous other professional associations. Mr. Saxton received his undergraduate degree from Shippensburg State College and his juris doctor degree from Duquesne Law School.
Gerald J. Scallion, MD, MBA
Medical Director, Metro NYAetna
New York, New York
Dr. Scallion represents the payor community and health insurance industry. He is currently Medical Director, Metro NY, for Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. Prior to joining the managed care industry in 2003, Dr. Scallion was a general surgeon in private practice for 20 years. He is a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s College and University of Maryland Medical School, and trained in general surgery at University of Maryland Hospital System in Baltimore.