Randolph Chitwood, a cardiothoracic surgeon with East Carolina, performed the first minimally invasive robotic-assisted mitral-valve heart surgery in the United States. East Carolina researchers also developed an electronic fluency device called SpeechEasy; the device is designed to improve the fluency of a person who stutters by changing the sound of the user's voice in his or her ear. Walter Pories, a faculty member at The Brody School of Medicine developed the standard procedure for gastric bypass surgery.