John Uecker (Past Speaker)

Dr. Uecker received his BA in Zoology from the University of Texas in 1989, then completed his medical School at the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1993. He then completed his general surgery internship in 1994 at Methodist Hospitals of Dallas. This marked the beginning of his laparoscopic surgical experience as well as dealing with the frustration of operating with suboptimal visualization due to dirty laparoscopic lenses. He then served in the US Navy at the Battalion Surgeon for the First Battalion/Eleventh Marines at Camp Pendleton. In 1996, he returned to Methodist Hospital to complete five additional years of general surgery training. Upon completion in 2001, he served as the Ship Surgeon on the USS Enterprise in the Northern Arabian Sea during operation Enduring Freedom. He then served as faculty at Portsmouth Naval Hospital and was then deployed as a trauma surgeon on the front lines with the First Marine Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He subsequently returned to Texas where he has practiced general surgery since 2003.

During his time as faculty at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas (previously University Medical at Brackenridge), he has performed thousands of laparoscopic operations, taught dozens of residents how to perform these operations, lectured medical students on laparoscopic surgery, and published several articles in peer reviewed journals on laparoscopic surgery topics. Additionally, he has presented at National and regional meetings on laparoscopic surgery issues. He is a co-inventor on a device that allows for cleaning a laparoscope without removing it from the body in order to make surgery safer and more efficient. Dr. Uecker is CEO and co-founder of ClearCam – a medical device company that focuses on lens cleaning solutions for laparoscopic and robotic surgery.