SAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Three founding
partners, Digital Surgery Ltd., Verb Surgical and Taylor Wessing
LLP, host the first-ever FT Digital Surgery Summit, where a
high-level cross-section of stakeholders converged to adopt a
digital vision for the future of surgery. Attendees have dubbed the
event "the Davos of Surgery."
Today in San Francisco, more
than 160 attendees and 23 speakers attended the inaugural FT
Digital Surgery Summit, including leaders from global medical
device companies, tech start-ups, philanthropic organizations,
investors, surgical departments, and health systems. As the
first-ever high-level gathering of its kind, the Summit defined a
bold, digital vision for the future of surgery and marked a seismic
shift for the field.
The day featured keynotes and panel discussions from some of the
most preeminent thought leaders in the field. Speakers included
Colonel (Dr) Jerome Buller,
Commander, US Army Institute of Surgical Research; Joe Lonsdale, Founding Partner, 8VC; Prof
Carla Pugh, Professor of General
Surgery, Stanford School of
Medicine; Dr Daniel Kraft,
Faculty Chair for Medicine, Singularity University and Founder and
Chair, Exponential Medicine; Prof Dan
Stoyanov, Professor of Robot Vision, UCL and CSO,
Digital Surgery Ltd.; Dr Allan
Kirk, Chair, Department of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine; Patrick Combes, Worldwide Technical Leader,
Healthcare and Life Sciences, Amazon Web Services; Prof
Jaap Bonjer, Chair and Professor
of Surgery, Amsterdam University Medical Centre and CEO, Amsterdam
Skills Centre for Health Sciences; Cheri
Reynolds, Director of Program Development and Global
Health, Assist International; Prof Ken
Goldberg, William S. Floyd
Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; and many
more.
"We're fortunate to have brought together such a diverse group
of decision-makers, surgeons and healthcare leaders, researchers,
engineers, technologists and investors to share their
perspectives," said Dr Jean Nehme,
CEO, Digital Surgery Ltd. "From the amazing breadth of attendees
and speakers, it's safe to say, we are reaching an inflection
point," Nehme further added. "I think the group in attendance
today, with their mix of backgrounds and viewpoints, is instigating
a step change in surgical care. I can see that there is a very real
movement towards the digitization of surgery."
Audience members, including senior leaders from surgical
robotics and medical device companies such as Medtronic,
Stryker, Intuitive Surgical, Verb, and Auris, engaged with the
content and speakers throughout the day via Twitter and in-person
questions. Elite global investors were also in attendance,
including Fosun International, Kaiser Permanente
Ventures, D1 Capital, Mubadala, and many more.
Jun Hou, Managing Director of
Fosun International, said "This is the first conference of its kind
that I have been to, which is solely devoted to surgery. Attendees
had a chance to ask some burning questions that they have never
been able to ask their peers in a very intimate setting."
Kevin Vigilante, Chief Medical
Officer, Booz Allen Hamilton, said
"(Digital surgery) is the third inflection point in surgery, the
first inflection was sepsis, the second was anaesthesia, harnessing
the power of data will be third inflection point."
Prof Jaap Bonjer, Chair and
Professor of Surgery, Amsterdam University Medical Centre and CEO,
Amsterdam Skills Centre for Health Sciences, said "The conference
has been excellent. It has been a fantastic interface between
surgeons, industry and the financial sector."
Michael Yip, Assistant Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, said "Wonderful
collection of experts in robotics, automation and clinical
practice."
About surgery and digital surgery
Every year in the United States
(US), more than 60 million surgical procedures are performed, of
which 20 million are invasive.1 This means, more than
100 procedures are performed every minute. In the US alone, the
surgical market is estimated to be 1
trillion USD.2
However, on the global scale, demand outstrips supply. It is
estimated that 5 billion people lack access to safe and timely
surgery. Every year, 18.6 million people die due to lack of
access to surgical care.3
Digital surgery, the next frontier of surgery, is defined as the
convergence of surgical technology, real-time data and
intelligence. Following previous waves of disruption, which saw the
transition from open to laparoscopic surgery, and from laparoscopic
surgery to robotic surgery, the digital paradigm in surgery is
bringing unprecedented changes to the century-old field. Up to now,
continuous improvements in surgical tools have allowed for
technically improved procedures − smaller incisions,
translating to reduced patient recovery times; better access to
deep and angled spaces within the body; more precise maneuvers; and
3D visualization. The power of linked data and advancements in
Artificial Intelligence (AI) are beginning to make a real impact in
the way surgeries are performed, reducing well-documented
variability in surgical process and outcomes.
Companies, investors, surgeons and health systems are racing to
accelerate the digitization of surgery in order to dramatically
improve patient outcomes whilst reducing cost and inefficiencies;
improve patient access; reduce inequities between populations;
improve quality; and deliver more personalized surgical care. With
increased funding pressures across global health systems and the
introduction of value-based care in some markets, stakeholders
across the public and private sectors view digital surgery as the
next apex in surgery.
About the Summit
The FT Digital Surgery Summit included 23 speakers across a mix
of keynotes and panel discussions. The second Summit will take
place in 2020 in New York.
Sessions and panel discussions included:
- Driving Innovation: From Military Research to Civilian
Medical Practice - Colonel (Dr) Jerome
Buller, Commander, US Army Institute of Surgical
Research
- Defining Digital Surgery in the Context of Value-Based
Care - Heather Lyu, General
Surgery Resident, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Ozanan
Meireles, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jean Nehme, CEO and Co-founder, Digital
Surgery Ltd; Dinesh Vyas, Chair,
Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, California
Northstate University
- Investment Opportunities in the Future of Health IT -
Joe Lonsdale, Founding
Partner, 8VC
- Automating the Metrics of Surgical Expertise: What do
Surgeons Really Need? – Carla
Pugh, Professor of General Surgery, Stanford School of Medicine
- The Future of Health and Medicine: Where can Technology Take
us? - Daniel Kraft, Faculty
Chair for Medicine, Singularity University and
Founder and Chair, Exponential Medicine
- The Next Generation of Surgical Tools, Instruments and
Materials - Luke Hares,
Technology Director, CMR Surgical; Pablo E. Garcia Kilroy, Vice President, Applied
Research and Technology, Verb Surgical; Richard
Leparmentier, VP Engineering, Auris Health; Dan
Stoyanov, Professor of Robot Vision, UCL &
CSO, Digital Surgery Ltd
- Preparing for the Future of Surgery – Allan Kirk,
Chair, Department of Surgery, Duke
University School of Medicine
- Artificial Intelligence - Rachael Callcut, Associate Professor of
Surgery, University of California San Francisco;
Patrick Combes, Worldwide Technical
Leader, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Amazon Web
Services; Euan Thomson, Global
Head of R&D, Digital Technology and Advanced
Innovation, Johnson & Johnson; Michael Yip, Assistant Professor, Electrical and
Computer Engineering, University of
California San Diego
- New Ways of Learning - A Digital Surgical Curriculum -
Jaap Bonjer, Chair and Professor of
Surgery, Amsterdam University Medical Centre and
CEO, Amsterdam Skills Centre for Health Sciences
- Panel: Bringing it Back to the Patient - Monika Hagen, Consultant Surgeon and
Lecturer, University Hospital Geneva; Daniel Buchbinder, Chief, Maxilofacial Surgery,
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New
York; Cheri Reynolds,
Director of Program Development and Global Health, Assist
International; Tim Worden,
Partner, Life Sciences, Taylor
Wessing
- The Next Generation of Robots in the Operating Room –
Ken Goldberg, William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in
Engineering, University of California,
Berkeley
About Digital Surgery Ltd.
Digital Surgery, founded by surgeons for surgeons and healthcare
professionals, believes safe surgical care should be accessible for
all. Co-founders Dr Jean Nehme and
Dr Andre Chow set out to shape the
future of surgery by building a digital ecosystem that sits at the
intersection of surgical expertise and technology. The company is
based in London with teams around
the world. For more information, please visit:
http://www.digitalsurgery.com.
References:
1. Total surgical volume derived from summation of ambulatory
surgical and inpatient surgical volume. Ambulatory surgical volume
derived from: Hall, M.J. et al., Ambulatory Surgery Data From
Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgery Centers: United States, 2010. National Health
Statistics Reports 2017. Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr102.pd; Inpatient surgical
volume derived from: Intuitive Surgical, Q4 2018 Investor
Presentation. Retrieved from:
https://isrg.gcs-web.com/static-files/8afb7980-4820-41ff-bfa4-b3f82ce4111a.
Retrieved on 20 Nov 2018.
2. Munoz, E. et al., National and Surgical Health Care
Expenditures, 2005–2025. Ann Surg 2010;251:195–200.
3. World Bank. Global Surgery 2030, Report Overview.
Retrieved from http://www.lancetglobalsurgery.org/. 15 October 2018
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SOURCE Digital Surgery