Event Location: NSH 1305
Bio: Umamaheswar Duvvuri, MD, PhD, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania obtaining his Medical Degree in 2000 and his PhD in Biophysics in 2002. He completed an internship in General Surgery in 2003 and residency training in Otolaryngology in 2007 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He completed fellowship training in Head and Neck Surgery in 2008 at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He joined the University of Pittsburgh in August 2008 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Division and is also a staff physician in the VA Pittsburgh healthcare System. He serves as the Director of Robotic Surgery, Division of Head and Neck Surgery, at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine and is the current Director of the Center for Advanced Robotics Training (CART) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He directs the Cart Training Courses which provide technical and circumstantial resources to initiate and optimize robotic surgery programs. He has authored numerous research publications and book chapters and is an invited guest lecturer/speaker on the subject of robotic surgery both nationally and internationally. A Fulbright scholar, his research interests include minimally invasive endoscopic and robotic surgery of the head and neck, tumors of the thyroid and parathyroid glands and molecular oncology of head and neck cancer. He is a leader in his field and has proctored Transoral Robotic Surgery cases at numerous medical educational facilities throughout the United States and Europe. He directs a federally funded laboratory that studies the biology of head and neck cancer. He holds funding from the National Institute of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs and the “V” foundation.

Abstract: The advent of robotic systems to medicine has revolutionized the practice of surgery. Most recently, several novel robotic surgical systems have been developed are entering the operative theater. This lecture will describe the current state-of-the-art in the robotic surgery. We will also describe some of the newer systems that are currently in use. Finally, the future of robotic surgery will be described in the context of clinical development and ease of use in the operating theaters of the future.