The HIFU Team is a group of dedicated individuals committed to bringing HIFU to men and their families all over the world who suffer from prostate cancer.

Scroll down to read about each team member or click the name below:

George Suarez, MD, FACS, FAAP, Medical Director

George M. Suarez, MD is a board certified urologist based in Miami, Florida. He is a practicing physician and surgeon who is also highly active in clinical research and development, lecturing, consulting and volunteering. Dr. Suarez has authored numerous chapters, articles and textbooks on prostate disease, incontinence and impotence. A modern pioneer within his areas of specialty, he has been involved in the development of several procedures including high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). He is the most experienced HIFU physician in North, South and Central America. He was originally trained in the HIFU procedure at Indiana University, where Phase I clinical trials took place. To help further his mission of curing prostate disease and eliminating its effects, Dr. Suarez founded Prostate Health Care (http://www.prostatehealthcare.org/), a non-profit organization that seeks to promote public awareness of the latest scientific research and available treatment options. He also founded the non-profit International HIFU Society to help advance clinical trials in HIFU, train urologists in the procedure and educate the public. Dr. Suarez is a former faculty member of the University of Miami School of Medicine. He completed his urology residency and fellowship at Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans and his general surgery training at Northwestern University in Chicago. Dr. Suarez has received numerous awards for his work, including the American Urological Association’s prestigious Montague Boyd Award for excellence in research and the T. Leon Howard Award. He is an active member of many medical and urology societies including the Societe Internationale D’Urologie, the European Association of Urology, the International Continence Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is a diplomat of the American College of Surgeons and of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Steve Puckett, Sr., Chairman

Mr. Puckett co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Hospital Partners of America (HPA) from 2002 until early 2008, a privately held company that owns and operates general acute care hospitals. HPA was named by Inc. Magazine as the third fastest growing private company in the United States in 2007. Mr. Stephen Puckett founded MedCath Incorporated, a company that owns and operates specialty heart hospitals throughout the U.S, and served as its Chairman and CEO from 1988-2000. Mr. Puckett a founder of Bariatric Partners a company that focuses on bariatric surgery provided in ambulatory surgery centers. He is on the Board of Partners Imaging, a company that provides CT imaging services to cardiology, ENT and urology practices throughout the United States. He also serves as Chairman of LV Realty, a realty development company that develops planned communities in the Southeastern U.S. Early in his career, Mr. Puckett held senior management positions at the University of Alabama Hospital and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Puckett was named Entrepreneur of the Year for North Carolina in 1996.

Steve Puckett, Jr., Chief Executive Officer

Stephen R. Puckett, Jr. is currently chief executive officer of USHIFU, LLC a company he helped found in 2004. He also aided in the founding of Hospital Partners of America a company that owns and operates general acute care hospitals in the United States. He served as marketing and physician relations manager at Austin Surgical Hospital where he was responsible for physician investment syndication that was comprised of neurosurgeons, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and pain management/anesthesiologists.

Mr. Puckett serves on the Board of Directors for Speed Trac Inc., a technology and logistic services company that is streamlining processes in the trucking industry. He is also a Board Member of International Celebration Association which is a non-profit organization that performs charitable work and faith based initiatives in the Carribean and South America. Additionally Steve Puckett Jr. has recently founded a hedge fund called Vautour Management, LLC which is focused on micro cap value stocks, distressed asset investing and special opportunities. He received a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

Alex Gonzalez, Vice President of Operations

Alex Gonzalez is a graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Science and his Masters in Physical Therapy. After completing clinical affiliations at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and Methodist Medical Center in Houston in 1995 he joined the level-1 trauma center, Thomason General Hospital, in west Texas where he later became the director of outpatient physical therapy services and went on to open the trauma centers first full service satellite rehabilitation center and work hardening program. During his time with Thomason General he was instrumental in negotiations with insurance carriers as well as industry on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border which resulted in above budget reimbursement and private pay business increase every year until his departure in 2000.

During his stay in west Texas Mr. Gonzalez spearheaded initiatives which increased the private pay based international business coming in to the hospital from Mexico and facilitated reimbursement negotiations with international insurance carriers. Since his departure from the trauma center he has been instrumental in opening up of new inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facilities in Austin, Texas and was key in developing the patient documentation protocols, patient treatment protocols and human resource policies at both of the last two hospital groups he has been affiliated with. Mr. Gonzalez has also spent time in the research field where the latest project completed focused on regional anesthesia use in the orthopedic patient which was featured in Anesthesiology News in 2005. Currently, Mr. Gonzalez is Vice President of Operations for USHIFU where he is responsible for international regulatory affairs, personnel and equipment logistics, structures the international facility agreements with the local hospitals, heads up Latin American physician recruitment and is in charge of developing the International Physician Training Program for the Sonablate 500 HIFU device. Additionally, he oversees the Canadian Recurrent Prostate Cancer research trials based out of London, Ontario and USHIFU patient data collection initiatives.

John W. Linn is Vice President of Finance

John W. Linn is Vice President of Finance at USHIFU LLC and has a background in investment banking and business advisory services. Prior to joining USHIFU, Linn was a Vice President at DecisionPoint International, a boutique merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory firm serving both public and private middle-market companies.

Prior to joining DecisionPoint, Linn worked in the investment banking group at BB&T Capital Markets, executing M&A, public and private equity offerings, fairness opinions and valuations. Linn is Series 7 and 63 licensed and received a BSBA, with a concentration in finance and accounting, from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Amanda Willis, Vice President of Marketing & Communications

As Vice President of Marketing at USHIFU, LLC, Amanda Willis is responsible for the creation and execution of all marketing and communications campaigns. Mrs. Willis joined USHIFU in June 2004 and since then has been actively involved in all aspects of the business in order to be able to effectively and fairly communicate the details of the technology to both patients and physicians. At USHIFU, she specializes in website development, online and print campaigns as well as patient education for international HIFU centers.

Mrs. Willis was graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she received a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations and a degree in Spanish. She enjoys reading, traveling and spending time with her husband, David.