Jaime Ponce MD, FACS, FASMBS

Dr. Ponce is the Medical Director for the Bariatric Surgery program at Hamilton Medical Center, in Dalton, Georgia, and Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He completed a General Surgery Residency at East Tennessee State University and has published numerous articles in peer reviewed surgical journals, lectured in different meetings and been a guest speaker in international congresses and courses. During the latest Bariatric Surgery consensus, Dr. Ponce presented the gastric banding supportive data.Dr. Ponce is a member of the Editorial Board of the Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases and Obesity Surgery journals.

Dr. Ponce has been practicing bariatric surgery since 1998 and has extensive experience with the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band procedure. He was the principal investigator for the “C” trial with the Lap-Band® and the Swedish (Realize™) Band trial. He is a consultant for many bariatric surgery companies, has been the co-director of several gastric banding courses, has trained hundreds of surgeons and allied health staff, has proctored hundreds of surgeons during their first gastric banding cases, and has one of the largest experiences with both gastric bands available in the U.S. In October 2000. Dr. Ponce developed a multidisciplinary comprehensive Bariatric Surgical Center of Excellence in Dalton, GA, which is now one of the largest outpatient gastric banding centers in the U.S.