Biography

Walter J. Pories, MD, FACS, Colonel USA (Ret.), Professor of Surgery, Biochemistry and Kinesiology is the Director of the Metabolic Surgery Research Group at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University.

After graduation from Wesleyan University as an art major, he received his MD with Honor at the University of Rochester where he also completed his residency in general and cardiothoracic surgery in addition to a year of research with the Manhattan Project on the thermal effects of the atom bomb.

While in medical school, with his mentor, William Strain, PhD, he was the first to report that zinc was an essential element not only for plants but also for animals and man.

A pioneer in the development of bariatric surgery, he was the first to document that the gastric bypass produces rapid, full and durable remission of Type2 diabetes. His primary current research interest, with over three decades of NIH funding is the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the metabolic syndrome.

He established and directed three cancer centers: at the University of Rochester, Case-Western Reserve and East Carolina University. He also served as President of a number of organizations including the ASMBS, as well as editor-in- chief and associate editor of several journals.

He retired from the US Army with the rank of Colonel after 24 years of service with the Legion of Merit and a Presidential Citation for the performance of the regiment under his command in the first Gulf War.

For fun, he publishes cartoons and tends to his farms that house goats, poultry, deer and even a family of bears by the Tar River. He is married to Dr. Mary Ann Rose, Professor of Nursing. They have six children.