Seeing the Future

University of Alabama Birmingham Chief of Robotic Surgery and Professor of Surgery Dr. Robert J. Cerfolio gives a meaningful, heartfelt lecture to the Robotic Surgeons Council of India, February 2014. In his wide-ranging remarks, he suggests that medical students and junior faculty should be treated “Like our children,” with the same care and encouragement. He compares practice on the surgical robot to baseball- something he has a lot of experience with personally with his three sons. Family is very important to him, especially after losing his wife in 2013. He reminds his audience to not take family for granted. He believes that surgeons who want to keep pace need to be practicing robotic surgery. “Robotic systems in the future are going to be able to use different types of cameras to identify cancer.” says Cerfolio, also an Intuitive Surgical proctor and consultant. He spoke about the benefits to patients, hospitals and surgeons and gives us a glimpse of some of the ideas under development today. This is a must-view video for any surgeon interested in pursuing robotic surgery and for experienced practitioners as well. 44 minutes with PowerPoints and photos.