Pryor, Aurora | MD, MBA, FACS

Biography

Dr. Aurora is Professor and Vice Chair of Surgery at Stony Brook. She grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and received her undergrad degree in engineering and her MD from Duke University. She completed her residency in General Surgery at Duke, followed by a fellowship in minimally invasive surgery. She was on the faculty at Duke from 2003-2011. While at Duke, she served as Co-Director of the Metabolic and Weight Loss Surgery Program at Duke and as Chief of General Surgery at Durham Regional Hospital. She was associate director of the Duke residency and the Duke MIS/bariatric fellowship program director. Moving to New York in 2011, she now serves as Vice Chair of Surgery, Chief of Bariatric, Foregut and Advanced GI Surgery and Director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center at Stony Brook. She is also director of the Advanced GI/MIS/Bariatric/Foregut fellowship at Stony Brook. Her clinical practice includes bariatrics, general GI surgery, foregut and hernia.

Dr. Pryor served the ASMBS on the Program and Emerging Technology committees, both of which she eventually served on as Chair. She served on the Executive Council of the ASMBS as a Council person at Large from 2014-2017. She is also the NY ASMBS chapter President. Dr. Pryor is also a Past President of SAGES and has been a SAGES member since early in her residency. She has also served as the SAGES Treasurer, Finance Chair, Membership Chair and the Research and Career Development Chair, among other roles. She helped start a series of SAGES Career Development seminars and the SAGES Career development awards. She has also served as the SAGES Representative to the Fellowship Council from 2010-2016 and now serves as the SAGES Representative to the American Board of Surgery, where she is co-Chair of the In Training Exam Committee and Chair of the Video Based Assessment Task Force. In addition to her work at SAGES, she has been active in the Fellowship Council Board where she served as President. Previous Fellowship Council roles have included Secretary/Treasurer, First and Second Vice-President. She is an Associate Editor for Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, has served as Subject Editor for Surgical Endoscopy and serves on the editorial boards of Annals of Surgery and Bariatric Times. In 2021, she has helped to start the Women’s Leadership in Surgery Society for which she is the inaugural President.

Dr. Pryor’s work has appeared in more than 200 publications, and she has co-edited four books. She has given more than 300 presentations worldwide, has received a number of research grants and holds patents for several surgical technologies, including the Transenterix SPIDER single port system. Her current research efforts focus on advancing laparoscopic bariatric and GI surgery techniques and outcomes, and on new technology in surgery. Her clinical care focuses on individualized treatment options of patients with gastroesophageal diseases, obesity and hernia. She offers a range of laparoscopic, endoscopic and traditional surgical approaches. She has actively engaged in several FDA trials and offers the latest available treatment options to her patients.