Dr. Richard Peterson is Professor and Division Chief of General and Minimally Invasive Surgery and Chief of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at the University of Texas Health San Antonio. He is a past president of the Texas State Chapter of the ASMBS. He is currently the President of the ASMBS. He has served on the ASMBS Board of Directors for 7 years.  He also serves on multiple committees on the ASMBS and currently Chairs the Question Writing Committee for the Focus Practice Designation exam in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery with the American Board of Surgery. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Standards and Verification Advisory Council of the American College of Surgeons’ MBSAQIP Program. He is the Social Media Editor for Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD) and was the surgical editor of Bariatric Times. Prior to his time at the University of Texas, Dr. Peterson did his Minimally Invasive and Bariatric surgery fellowship at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. He then entered into active duty service in the United States Air Force and was the Consultant for Bariatric Surgery to the US Air Force Surgeon General and ran the largest bariatric surgery program in the Department of Defense.