Dr. Bergein Overholt is widely recognized for his work as the developer of
the flexible fiber sigmoidoscope-colonoscope in 1963, which is used in
colonoscopy while serving in the Cancer Control Program of the U.S. Public Health
Service. For his innovative work, he was awarded the prestigious Schindler Award
from the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the William
Beaumont Award of the American Medical Association.
Dr. Bergein Overholt is past president of the American Society of Gastrointestinal
Endoscopy and the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. He is a
founding member and past president of the Tennessee Society of Gastrointestinal
Endoscopy. He has served as Chief of Staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center (now
Mercy Medical) in Knoxville, Tennessee, and currently serves as the Medical
Director of the Laser Department of the Thompson Cancer Survival Center in
Knoxville.
Dr. Bergein Overholt is a graduate of the University of Tennessee Medical School.
He performed his residency and also completed a two-year fellowship in
gastroenterology at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received
additional training in gastroenterology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical
Center. Dr. Bergein Overholt has published numerous articles and book chapters
on the topic of gastroenterology. He is also co-editor of a book, Office Endoscopy.