Richard Satava, M.D., who worked on the first-ever virtual reality (VR) surgical simulators, has joined PrecisionOS Technology Inc, developers of a medical-grade virtual reality learning platform, in the role of an advisor. Dr. Satava, Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Washington, past program manager at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and former Senior Science Advisor for the U.S. Army Medical Research Command, will be advising the company on simulation, research and surgical expertise toward the development of “enhanced immersive training and education modules created by PrecisionOS.”
VR Legend Richard Satava, M.D. New Advisor at PrecisionOS
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“As a world-class expert in surgical simulation, I am extremely excited to welcome Dr. Satava to our team of advisors,” said company CEO Dr. Danny Goel, a practicing orthopedic surgeon in Vancouver, British Columbia. “To drive the mission of our company toward proficiency-based learning, it is essential for us to learn from an expert like Dr. Satava. His reputation precedes him, and we are fortunate to have his input in advancing global surgical education.”
As indicated by PrecisionOS, “…He has also served on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Committee on Health, Food and Safety. He is currently a member of the Technology Enhanced Surgical Education Committee of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), is past president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS), and is a former member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME).”
“The PrecisionOS virtual reality training system is one of the most advanced surgical simulations, both visually and in terms of its highly realistic dynamic interactivity, that I have experienced throughout my career,” Dr. Satava said. “This combination is extremely rare, unique and ahead of its time, placing PrecisionOS in a crucial leadership position within the world of virtual reality surgical simulation.”
Dr. Satava told OTW, “Emerging research from the rapidly developing fields of video review, artificial intelligence (AI), ‘Big Data’ and computational analytics are being incorporated into simulators and curricula, which will be useful for precise understanding, teaching and assessing of surgical technical skills to help surgeons to more rapidly improve the quality of their surgical performance.”
“In his short time with our company, he has already had a significant impact on how we are thinking and developing our next-generation software platform,” Dr. Goel said. “His presence has already been noted across several domains in the technology we are creating.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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