Gary C. Vitale, MD is Professor of Surgery at the University of Louisville and Norton Hospital.  After obtaining his B.A. at Harvard University in 1975, Dr. Vitale completed his medical studies at Yale University in 1979.  He did his internship and residency at the University of Louisville including a 2-year fellowship in GI/biliary-pancreas surgery in Scotland at the University of Dundee with Dr. Alfred Cuschieri and a 1-year fellowship in Interventional ERCP in Paris, France with Dr. Claude Liguory.  He started on the University of Louisville faculty in 1986.  He maintains a busy practice in surgical endoscopy, EUS, and pancreatic-biliary/complex GI surgery, and is also the Director of the fellowship in Pancreatico-biliary Surgery, Surgical Endoscopy and ERCP, which he established in 1992. To date, he has trained 41 surgeons from all over the world. In 2014, he received the Jeffrey Ponsky Master Educator in Endoscopy Award from the SAGES Education and Research Foundation.  In 2014, Dr. Vitale was elected a Fellow of the American Surgical Association. Dr. Vitale is a founding member and past chairman of the Flexible Endoscopy Committee of SAGES and currently serves on the Foundation Board. He has also been chairman of the Credential Committee, a member of the Legislative Committee, the Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery Committee (FES), and was on the Board of Governors for many years.  Over the years, he has been an active member at the SAGES annual meetings, and has given numerous lectures, moderator, and participated in panel discussions.   He is also a member of ASGE and also regional surgical societies (Central Surgical Society, Southern Surgical Society, Southeastern and Western Surgical Society).