Joseph F. Amaral, MD, is the president and CEO of Rhode Island Hospital and a practicing surgeon specializing in minimally invasive surgery. He is well known for introducing laparoscopic surgery to Rhode Island and New England in 1990. This type of surgery revolutionized care for patients by allowing complex operations such as gall bladder removal to be performed with small incisions, resulting in discharge from the hospital on the same or next day. Most recently, he has pioneered removal of kidneys through this means for the hospital's kidney transplant program. In addition to his role at Rhode Island Hospital, he is a Professor of Surgery at Brown Medical School and is a member of over 25 professional societies. He is the author of over 75 papers and book chapters and has given over 250 national and international presentations. Dr. Amaral was also actively involved in the research and development of alternate means of cutting and coagulating tissue. Along with Dr. Tom Davison he was the principle developer of ultrasonically activated cutting and coagulating, a technique now used throughout the world.