2005-06 ASMBS President
Most Important Event
Hiring a public relations firm to begin to educate the medical community, as well as the public in general, on the disease of obesity.
The patients went from fat, lazy people who needed to push away from the table to those suffering from an incurable disease whose only effective treatment was bariatric/metabolic surgery. Surgery went from being “Radical and Dangerous” to being “Safe and Cost Effective.” We developed a media team that had someone available 24/7 to advise and vet almost every significant story about bariatrics.
That was a necessary, if not sexy, accomplishment. On a more personal level, establishing State Chapters and advancing patient safety meant more to me.
My biggest disappointment is that, inspite of making bariatric surgery the safest and most rehabilitative procedure in modern medicine, it still lacks across the board “CORE BENEFIT STATUS.”
The memories and years are too numerous to mention in a few words.
Sincerely,
Neil Hutcher, MD