Southern Surgical Associates is dedicated to providing the best surgical care to their patients by utilizing knowledge, compassion, and the latest technology available. Southern Surgical Associates, PA is designated as a Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. All surgeons are board certified and have extensive university and fellowship training.

Dr. Wade Naziri

Dr. Naziri received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Catholic University of America and  his Medical degree from the University of Virginia. After completing his General Surgery residency at Tulane University School of Medicine, he went to The University of Dundee School of Medicine in Scotland where he received Fellowship training in Laparoscopic Surgery under one of the foremost leaders in the field, Professor Alfred Cushieri. He also spent three years as the Price Fellow in General Surgical Research with Dr. Hiram C. Polk, Jr. at the University of Louisville. His areas of expertise and interest include Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive Sugery including Bariatric surgery (Gastric Bypass and Gastric Banding), gallbladder surgery, anti-reflux surgery, hernia repair, and colon surgery. He has been successful in helping establish Southern Surgical Associates as one of the Centers of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery as designated by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the Surgical Review Corporation.

Dr. Chris Mann

Dr. Mann, a native of Germany, graduated from the University of Heidelberg Medical School. He completed his final year of medical school at the Duke University Medical Center through a scholarship exchange program. After obtaining his medical license in Germany he completed a residency in General Surgery at East Carolina University under Dr. Walter Pories and Dr. Randolph Chitwood. Following his residency training, he completed additional fellowship training in Laparoscopic Surgery with Dr. Felicien Steichen in White Plains, New York. Dr. Mann's area of expertise is Bariatric Surgery (Gastric Bypass and Gastric Banding) with an emphasis on Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive procedures including hernia repair, anti-reflux surgery, gallbladder and biliary surgery and colon surgery. Dr. Mann is also part of our "Center of Excellence" in weight loss surgery and performs both open and laparoscopic weight loss procedures.

Shannon Heuts, PA-C

Originally from Atlanta Georgia, Heuts has more than 20 years of operating room experience in roles ranging from scrub tech to nurse to physician assistant. With an extensive background in orthopaedics and bariatric surgery, she has been with Nash Health Care since 2006, and serves as the Nash Surgical Weight Loss program’s physician assistant and clinical coordinator. But Heuts brings much more than her expertise to Nash Health Care—two of her family members have had successful gastric bypass surgery, so she understands the challenges and rewards of the entire process. She earned her RN in 1990 from Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia and graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University PA School in Nashville Tennessee in 1997.  She is a board certified PA and a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.