Meet Our Esteemed Fellows
David R. Reitter, M.D.
Dr. Reitter is a board-certified general surgeon with 21 years of surgery and endoscopy experience. He recently completed the Sono Bello Aesthetic Fellowship in 2021. He feels the opportunity was the right move to reinvigorate his career.
“After working to serve the healthcare needs of the communities I have lived and worked in, I found the multiple administrative roadblocks and hurdles of the insurance and government-based system to be stifling and suffocating to what I needed to feel like I was still “making a difference”.
"I was burning out and knew that I needed a change to bring energy and joy back into my career. I began to look at options and found Sono Bello with their strong company track record and vision for growth to be very refreshing. Having finished this very rigorous fellowship with one of the most tenured surgeons in the company, I feel renewed vigor in my career. Fostering new skills and techniques is part of what we do as surgeons and this experience has given me a new lease on my career. One on one patient experiences, helping clients to achieve their best self physically and emotionally, is a career I find very rewarding.”
Board Certifications
American Board of Surgery
Medical School
Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota, Vermilion, SD
Medical Doctor
Internship
University of Illinois College of Peoria, Peoria, IL
General Surgery
Residency
University of Illinois College of Peoria, Peoria, IL
General Surgery
Dr. Reitter discusses his Sono Bello fellowship
Brian J. Plaskon, M.D.
Dr. Plaskon is a board-certified general surgeon with 20 years of experience. He recently completed the Sono Bello Aesthetic Fellowship in 2020. He believes this opportunity helped him achieve his goal of a more fulfilling career.
“I was no longer feeling rewarded in my career as a general surgeon. After my time as a fellow, I felt confident with my skills and prepared to immediately provide liposuction services. Now, I get to focus on what I do best, customizing procedures to ensure positive results for the patient every time.”
Board Certifications
American Board of Surgery
Affiliations
American College of Surgeons
Seattle Surgical Society
Undergraduate
Purdue University
Lafayette, IN
Bachelor of Science, Physics
Medical School
Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, IN
Medical Doctor
Internship
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Seattle, WA
General Surgery
Residency
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Seattle, WA
General Surgery
Elie Adam Goldenberg, M.D.
Dr. Goldenberg is a board-certified general surgeon with over 20 years of experience. He recently completed the Sono Bello Aesthetic Fellowship in 2021.
“The fellowship experience was a great way to perfect my body contouring skills. Working with Dr. Walt Siemian in Orlando was hard work, but it made me a better surgeon in general. He gave me the tools to appreciate how to fine tune my skills and make good work, great. Overall, the rigors and the work put in made for an enriching experience that improved my aesthetic eye and broadened my horizons in this exciting field.”
Board Certifications
American Board of Surgery
Affiliations
American College of Surgeons
American Medical Association
Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons
Medical School
Ponce School of Medicine
Residency
The New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens Flushing, New York
Afshin Eslami, M.D.
“Before I got to this fellowship program, I was a Bariatric and General surgeon in solo private practice working terrible hours and missing family time.
Without question, it was a good idea joining the Sono Bello team to avoid dealing with insurance companies and hospital regulations, which has been getting worse over the past decade. Joining Sono Bello is already improving my work/life balance. I enjoyed learning new techniques to help people looking into big transformations in their lives.”
Certifications & Memberships
Associate Fellow of American College of Surgeons
SAGES & ASMBS Memberships
Medical School
Tehran Medical University
Residency
General Surgery - University of Maryland
Chief Resident – Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore
Fellowships
Baylor College of Medicine – Minimally Invasive & Bariatric Surgery
Sono Bello Aesthetic Fellowship Program Minimally Invasive Body Contouring
Matthew Alter, M.D.
"After practicing General surgery and then Acute Care and Trauma surgery, I felt that it was time for a change. The rigors of the General Surgery Lifestyle were taking their toll on me. 24 yrs of nights, holidays, and weekends, I felt it was time for a change. The Sono Bello Fellowship Opportunity arose, and I felt that it was the right fit for the lifestyle and career change that I needed.
After graduating from the Fellowship, I felt that I was extremely well trained to perform the needed procedures with efficiency, skill, and technical abilities necessary to meet our patient's needs while achieving the work-life balance needed.”
Affiliations
American College of Surgeons
Medical School
Buffalo Graduate Medical/Dental Consortium
Professional Organizations
Fellow American College of Surgeons
American College of Surgeons, Associate Group
American College of Surgeons, Candidate Group
American Medical Association
American Society of Breast Surgeons
Eric Gourley, M.D.
"Over the past few years, I had felt increasingly unhappy in my practice. I had heard the stuff about physician/surgeon burnout but just dismissed the idea as nonsense, thinking that would never be me. But after being on-call every third night, missing too many of my daughter’s activities, and getting out of bed too frequently to come admit trauma patients or operate on perforated viscus, incarcerated hernias, peri-rectal abscesses, etc., I came to the realization that I wasn’t happy any more doing what I was doing.
I ran through my mind what my “ideal” would be – regular hours, little (or better, no) call, weekends free, satisfying work and good pay. That ideal, however, seemed pretty impossible to achieve. I started casually keeping my eyes open to possibilities that were out there. Among other things, I came across recruiting ads for Sono Bello."
Board Certifications
American College of Surgeons
American Board of Obesity Medicine
Medical School
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Residency
William Beaumont Army Medical Center - General Surgery