Join us for the Surgical Robots Symposium
Join us for our afternoon symposium on Surgical Robots: Innovation, Opportunities and Challenges Wednesday October 17, 2018 frm 2:00pm - 5:00pm.
Hear about Canadian innovations from companies such as Synaptive Medical and MDA, research organizations such as Sick Kids Hospital and the Centre for Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics.
Canada is home to numerous initiatives in surgical robotics including the commercialized work of Synaptive Medical, the research on KidsArm at Sick Kids and investment in innovation centres such as the CSTAR research group.
With its world-leading hubs in health research and innovation, Canada has a unique opportunity to combine key assets for innovation leadership; a highly concentrated health innovation cluster, engineering and technical talent to create the solutions of the future, and a single-payer system to support their larger scale adoption.
The symposium will explore home-grown Canadian innovations, invite technology users and adopters to highlight what opportunities exist for these technologies, and host a discussion on the challenges in bringing these technologies to market, including their validation, adoption, policy innovation and how they will transform the healthcare system and practice.
Agenda
2:00 pm Networking
2:15 pm Surgical Robotics Innovation in Canada - Technical Talks
Leila Kheradpir, M.Sc., P.Eng, Director, Hardware Engineering, Synaptive Medical
Tim Fielding, Medical Product Development Manager, MDA
Thomas Looi, Program Director, Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, Hospital for Sick Children
Rajni Patel, Director of Engineering, Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics and Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Control, Western University
3:20 pm Surgical Robotics: Needs, Opportunities and Gaps - User Talks
Dr. Taymaa May, Gynaecologic Oncologist, and Surgical Scientist, UHN Princess Margaret Hospital, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
3:50 pm Networking
4:10 pm Panel Discussion
William Charnetski, Ontario’s Chief Health Innovation Strategist
Cameron Piron, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Synaptive Medical
Tim Reedman, Director, Commercial Systems, MDA Robotics
Rajni Patel, Director of Engineering, Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics and Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Control, Western University
Leila Kheradpir, M.Sc., P.Eng, Director, Hardware Engineering, Synaptive Medical
4:50 pm Closing Remarks
5:00 pm Networking
Speakers
William Charnetski, Ontario’s Chief Health Innovation Strategist
On Twitter at @WCharnetski and on LinkedIN
As Ontario’s Chief Health Innovation Strategist, William Charnetski drives collaboration across the public and private sectors to bring innovative health technologies to market in Ontario and beyond. He is a champion for leveraging Ontario’s investment in health as an economic driver, accelerating the shift towards value-based health care and improved patient outcomes.
With a background as an accomplished national and global executive who has worked in the highest levels of business, law and government, Mr. Charnetski has a track record of leading transformational change, developing organizations, fostering partnerships and collaboration and delivering results. He has spent more than 12 years working on integrated health solutions and health innovation in Canada and around the world in the rapidly changing global health industry.
Mr. Charnetski most recently worked in the UK with AstraZeneca, one of the world's largest innovative pharmaceutical companies. He led global government affairs and public policy and had responsibilities for corporate social responsibility and regional communications.
Tim Fielding, Medical Product Development Manager, MDA
On LinkedIN
Tim is a Product Development Manager at MDA Robotics and Automation in Brampton, Ontario. He has 20 years of experience working on complex, safety critical robotic systems for both the space and non-space markets. Tim’s current work involves collaboration with academic, clinical and industrial partners to leverage MDA’s robotic technologies and create high technology solutions to improve healthcare. Outside of the medical field, Tim has worked on development projects for several tele-operated robotic systems such as systems for the International Space Station, satellite servicing missions and an inspection system for the nuclear industry.
Tim has a Bachelor of Engineering Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.
Leila Kheradpir, M.Sc., P.Eng, Director, Hardware Engineering, Synaptive Medical
On Twitter at @Leila_Kheradpir and on LinkedIN
Leila is a Professional Engineer with 20 years of experience in project management, product development and systems engineering in biotechnology, space robotics and manufacturing. She is extensively knowledgeable about medical device design and development for various regulatory jurisdictions, such as FDA, Health Canada and European Union Directive. In her current role as the Director, Hardware Engineering at Synaptive Medical, Leila manages complex projects with multi‐disciplinary engineering teams. Prior to joining Synaptive, she was a Systems Engineer on Canadarm2 while working at MDA where she worked on launching and supporting robotic hardware to the International Space Station. Outside of work, Leila volunteers as a mentor with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE). She is also a Champion with the Women in Engineering Advocacy Champions Task Force (WE ACT), an OSPE task force.
Thomas Looi, Program Director, Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention, Hospital for Sick Children
On LinkedIN
Thomas Looi, PhD, MBA, PEng, is the Project Director of the Centre of Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention (CIGITI) at the Hospital for Sick Children. At CIGITI, he is responsible for the day to day operations, research planning, staffing and commercialization of a variety of minimally invasive surgical robotic tools. Some of these projects include: minimally invasive neurosurgical tools, millimetre-size actuators for the DaVinci surgical robot and MR-guided robotic systems. He has been involved in licensing technology and acting as an advisor to several medical device start-up companies. His background is in aerospace and biomedical engineering where he spent 6 years working the space robotics at MDA and 9 years developing surgical robotic technology. He also conducts basic research in to the use of focused ultrasound for performing non-invasive thromboloysis. In addition to his technical background, he has a MBA from the Rotman School of Business where his focus was on finance and venture capital.
Dr. Taymaa May, Gynaecologic Oncologist, and Surgical Scientist, UHN Princess Margaret Hospital, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Dr. Taymaa May received her medical degree from McGill University in Montreal and went on to complete post-graduate training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Toronto. During her residency, Dr. May completed the Clinician Investigator Program and received a Master’s of Science degree from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. Following residency, Dr. Taymaa May completed a 3-year fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/ Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.
Dr. Taymaa May is a surgical scientist at the University Health Network and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. May has clinical training in the medical management of women with gynecological malignancies and surgical training in complex oncologic surgeries including pelvic, abdominal, laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Her research interests are in translational science and clinical trials in the field of ovarian cancer.
Rajni Patel, Director of Engineering, Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics and Canada Research Chair in Advanced Robotics and Control, Western University
Professor Rajni Patel received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, England in 1973 and currently holds the position of Distinguished University Professor and Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with cross appointments in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences at Western University, London, Ontario. Dr. Patel is a founding member of CSTAR (Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics) and serves as its Director of Engineering. He has over 35 years of research experience in the design, simulation, prototyping and control of advanced robotic and mechatronic systems.
From 1991 to 2000, Dr. Patel collaborated with the Canadian Space Agency and Bombardier Inc. on three of CSA’s STEAR (Strategic Technologies in Automation and Robotics) programs. Since 2000, Dr. Patel’s research has focused on robotic and other mechatronic applications in minimally invasive surgery and therapy, haptics and teleoperation, and surgical training and skills assessment, and more recently on robotic applications for post-stroke rehabilitation and other neurological movement disorders. Dr. Patel is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the IEEE, and the ASME. He has served on the editorial boards of multiple key publications in the field and most recently was the editor of “Minimally Invasive Surgical Robotics”, Volume 1 (of 4 volumes) of the Encyclopedia of Medical Robotics, World Scientific Publishing Company, 2018.
Cameron Piron, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Synaptive Medical
On LinkedIN and on Twitter at @CameronPiron
Cameron Piron is an industry-recognized leader and innovator in image-guided surgery. Prior to co-founding Synaptive Medical, Cameron was president and co-founder of Sentinelle Medical, a medical device company that developed and manufactured advanced MRI-based breast imaging technologies. Sentinelle grew to over 200 employees and over $20 million in revenues before being acquired by Hologic, Inc. in 2010.
Cameron studied systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo, followed by a graduate degree at the University of Toronto in medical biophysics. His awards include the Ontario Premier’s Catalyst Award for Best Young Innovator in 2008; the University of Waterloo’s Alumni Achievement medal in 2009 for leading Sentinelle Medical in researching and manufacturing leading-edge MRI technologies that allow physicians to diagnose breast cancer and other medical conditions faster and more accurately; being named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™ list in 2009, which was established by Caldwell Partners and celebrates the achievements of young Canadians in the private, public and non-profit sectors; and being the first Canadian ever to win R&D Magazine’s Innovator of the Year award in 2008. In 2015, Cameron was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People, was recognized for his leadership in 2016 when Synaptive was named Life Sciences Ontario’s Company of the Year, and was named a finalist for the 2017 Bloom Burton Award in recognition of his contributions to the Canadian healthcare industry. Cameron is a member of Synaptive’s Board of Directors.
Tim Reedman, Director, Commercial Systems, MDA Robotics
On LinkedIN
Tim Reedman is a senior manager with 31 years of experience in the robotics industry applied to the space, medical, nuclear and entertainment industries. His expertise includes management and direction of multi-disciplinary teams for research and development projects, engineering development programs, engineering operations management and business development. Mr Reedman is currently the Director, Commercial Systems at MDA, responsible for the company’s medical, nuclear and industrial automation business.
