Dr. Daniel Scott attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas and studied Biomedical Engineering on a full-tuition scholarship.  He completed medical school at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and graduated as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.  He pursued residency training in General Surgery and completed a 2-year fellowship in Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.  Following completion of his training in 2002, he served as faculty at Tulane University School of Medicine and established a Simulation and Training Laboratory, a Laparoscopic Fellowship Program, a multi-disciplinary Bariatric Surgery Program, and a Robotic Surgery Program.  Dr. Scott relocated to Dallas in 2005, joined the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and is now Professor of Surgery and holds the Frank H. Kidd, Jr. MD Distinguished Professorship in Surgery.  He served as the Director of the Southwestern Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, accredited by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a Level I Education Institute and by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) as a Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES), and Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy (FUSE) Test Center.  In 2011, he became Vice Chairman of Education and Surgery Residency Program Director and thoroughly enjoyed these roles for five years.  In 2016, he transitioned to Assistant Dean for Simulation & Student Integration with an appointment in the Graduate Medical Education Office and was named Director of the new UT Southwestern Simulation Center, which opened in 2018.  This large initiative is creating integrated, proficiency-based simulation curricula for all learners on campus, complementing Dr. Scott’s longstanding interest in technical skills training, performance assessment and competency.  He also remains interested in teaching Minimally Invasive and Bariatric Surgery and serves as the MIS/Bariatric Fellowship Program Director.

Dr. Scott is nationally and internationally recognized as an expert in the clinical areas of minimally invasive general surgery, including bariatric, foregut, and hernia surgery.  Dr. Scott’s research interests focus on emerging surgical techniques and technologies, as well as simulation-based surgical education and novel methods for achieving mastery.  He has authored 179 publications, including books, monographs, chapters, manuscripts, and videos, all focusing on various areas of minimally invasive and gastrointestinal surgery, including novel surgical devices and approaches, Bariatrics, GERD, Achalasia, Hernia, Robotics, and Surgical Education.  Dr. Scott has received grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and other organizations for simulation-based training and device development research.

Dr. Scott has received numerous awards, including the 2004 SAGES Young Researcher Award, the 2005 Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT) Traveling Fellowship Award, the 2016 SAGES Foundation Excellence in Medical Leadership Award, and has been repetitively listed in D Magazine’s Best Doctors in Dallas.  He served as President of SAGES (2016-2017) and the Fellowship Council (2017-2018), Vice President of the Association for Surgical Education (ASE), and a member of the American Board of Surgery Gastrointestinal Surgery Advisory Committee.   He has served in leadership positions in numerous additional organizations, including the ACS, the American Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery (ASBMS), and the SSAT.