jpotts@acgme.org
Dr. Potts is Senior Vice President, Surgical Accreditation. He is also an adjunct professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Houston Medical School (UTHMS). Dr. Potts received a BA with Honors in history from Oklahoma State University. He graduated from medical school at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, where he also completed his surgery residency. He did fellowships in surgical gastroenterology at the University of Utah under the direction of Dr. Frank Moody, and in portal hypertension at Emory University under the direction of Dr. Dean Warren.
Dr. Potts was program director in surgery at the UT Houston for 21 years, and vice-chair for education there for 17 years. He served as chair of the UTMSH GMEC for 16 years, and for 10 years served as Assistant Dean for GME and designated institutional official.
Dr. Potts has served for over a decade on the faculty of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgical Education Principles and Practices course. He served on the design team and the faculty of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Resident Affairs inaugural GME Leadership Development Course, and initiated the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) New Program Director Workshop in 2001, for which he is a faculty member. He has also served as chair of the GME Committee of the Southwestern Surgical Congress.
Dr. Potts is a former Director of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and Chair of the ABS General Surgery Residency Committee. Before becoming a Director, he served numerous times as an Associate Examiner for the Board and as a consultant to the Clinical Management section of the ABSITE Committee. He also served as a member of the ABS Task Force on Surgical Curriculum, which evolved into the Surgical Council on Resident Education (SCORE).
Dr. Potts was a member of the ACS Planning Committee for the Core Competency-based Resident Curriculum for All Surgical Specialties. Also at the ACS, he served as a member of the Committee on Fundamentals of Surgical Education, the Committee on Prerequisites for Surgical Education, and the ACS Task Force for Response to the Institute of Medicine Report on Resident Duty Hours.
Dr. Potts has been an active member of the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) since 1992. He has served as the ASE representative to the AAMC Group on Resident Affairs, as a member of the CSERT Grants Review Committee and in the Strategic Planning Session held in 2004.
Dr. Potts has also been a very active member of the APDS since 1992. He has served on the APDS Program Committee, and chaired the program of the annual meeting in 2000. He has been a member of both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. Dr. Potts is a past-president of the APDS, and was the APDS representative to the Organization of Program Director Associations (OPDA) from 2003-2011. He served on the Steering Committee of OPDA for seven years and is a past-chair.
At the ACGME, Dr. Potts has served on the Committee on Innovation in the Learning Environment and on the Standing Panel for Accreditation Appeals in the specialty of surgery. He was an ex-officio member of the Council of Review Committee Chairs from 2007-2009. He has also served as a specialist site visitor.
Dr. Potts has received numerous teaching awards from UTMSH students and surgical residents. He received the Association for Surgical Education Outstanding Teacher Award in 2000, and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha in 2003. Dr. Potts practiced general surgery for almost 30 years. He has been named a “Best Doctor in America,” a “Top Doc” by Inside Houston Magazine, a “Texas Super Doctor” by Texas Monthly, a “Top Doctors in the U.S.” by the Consumers’ Checkbook Magazine, a ”Houston Top Doctor” by H Magazine, and in the Consumer Research Council of America’s “Guide to America’s Top Surgeons.”