CMR Surgical joins 'Global Science Cities' in Cambridge this September

Image: Mark Slack, Chief Medical Officer of CMR Surgical - courtesy of CMR Surgical

Future Cities Forum has invited Chief Medical Officer of CMR Surgical, Mark Slack, to contribute to our 'Global Science Cities' forum to be held on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus this September – alongside directors from King’s Health Partners, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Mark is keen to talk about the challenges of the fund-raising journey in developing new surgical technology  but also to pose questions on how the UK government is supporting innovation and manufacturing for the MedTech sector?

In 2014, the five founders of CMR Surgical asked some big questions: why are so many people still not getting minimal access surgery and how can we change this? Following this CMR Surgical has been developing robotic medical devices and has grown to becoming a global business headquartered in Cambridge UK.

The company believes that patients should be receiving the highest quality of care and thinks that robotics is a solution to bringing minimal access surgery to more people. With its innovative technology called Versius, the firm's goal is to empower surgeons to transform how surgery is performed across the world. Today, Versius is being used in routine clinical practice to deliver high quality surgical care to patients across over 70 locations internationally.

It states:

'It is the patented V-wrist technology that enables Versius to be a surgical robot like no other. This innovative technology, allows Versius to be small, modular and portable, making it easy for surgeons to adopt, easy to move around a hospital, and ultimately maximises utilisation. The 360 degrees of wrist rotation also allows the surgical instruments to be small, leading to smaller incisions for the patient. With Versius, you can place your ports where you want them, to best suit the needs of each patient. This allows you to operate the way you did laparoscopically, with all the benefits of robotic-assisted surgery.'

Mark trained as a medical doctor and Gynaecologist in South Africa graduating with the Gold Medal for Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the Fellowship of the College of Medicine of South Africa. He has continued to pursue a combined clinical and academic career with a number of successful innovations in surgery and Gynaecology. In addition, he has a strong interest in basic science research.

Mark still holds honorary positions at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and at the University of Cambridge but no longer practices clinical medicine.

Mark is actively involved in clinical and basic research and participates in student teaching. He also has strong academic links in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa. His work resulted in him being awarded the Simms Black Professorship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the award of “Leading Clinical Researcher” by the National Institute of Health Research in 2015. He has published over a hundred original peer reviewed articles and contributed to more than 25 textbooks.

His interest in minimal access surgery led him to explore the possibilities of improving uptake of minimal access surgery by the utilisation of more sophisticated surgical tools such as the robot.

CMR surgical also promotes a leading program of Professional Education utilising VR headsets and proficiency-based training. In addition the company has designed and set up a registry to monitor outcomes and has published widely on this subject.

Mark has promoted an evidence based and value based approach to the introduction of the robot.