VCU surgeons launch new surgery

By Erin Lucero
Office of Development, School of Medicine

RICHMOND, Va. – Will robots one day rule the operating room? Is telemedicine the answer for delivering surgical care to remote areas around the globe and as far away as Mars? Where is the dividing line between real-life solutions and science fiction fantasies?

A new journal devoted to futuristic surgical innovations promises to offer surgeons insight into these and other questions. New Surgery, launched by two Virginia Commonwealth University surgeons, will feature articles pertaining to new technology, distance learning and international medicine.

Telemedicine pioneer and VCU Chief of Surgery Ronald C. Merrell, M.D., is the journal’s editor-in-chief. Known for his affinity for technological innovations and their creative application in the operating room, Merrell also serves as director of the NASA Commercial Space Center based at VCU’s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.

In the lead article of the inaugural March/April issue, Merrell challenges his readers with the idea: "Old and current surgery techniques are not good enough and the new surgery we need is not yet ready."

He envisions operating rooms where telemedicine makes real-time consulting and intervention commonplace and where voice-activated machines, artificial intelligence and robotics supplement surgeons’ expertise. He believes that these technological advances hold the promise for changing the way that health-care is provided around the globe.

"Distance has long been a determining factor in the outcome of patient care," he wrote. "Distance in the 21st century will not be an absolute determinant of patient outcome. ‘If we had only gotten here in time,’ will no longer ethically be an acceptable answer…. Distance, the final frontier of health care, can be overcome."

But Merrell notes that even futuristic tools are useless in an information vacuum. He sees the journal New Surgery as the vehicle that can fill the current need for information and instruction on surgical technologies and innovations.

"Imagine an 18th century surgeon just given a laparoscope but no update on worldview and human biology," Merrell wrote.

The journal’s editor is Rifat Latifi, M.D., a VCU trauma surgeon who also serves as director of Education and Distance Learning for VCU’s NASA commercial space center. Along with Merrell, Latifi travels to countries around the globe to introduce telemedicine and provide a link to medical and surgical expertise. A native of Kosovo, Latifi returns to the country frequently and has seen first-hand the tremendous impact that access to advanced technology has had on the war-torn region.

Landes Bioscience Publications will publish New Surgery every two months. The peer-reviewed journal is available by subscription, on newsstands and online. New Surgery is the first of eight new journals on bioscience and biomedical topics that Landes Bioscience will introduce over the next year. The journals – ranging in focus from organ transplant to the molecular mechanisms of cancer biology and therapy – will provide direction and definition to the evolving knowledge, research and fields that grow out of conventional medical disciplines.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies VCU as a Carnegie Research-Extensive university. Each year, VCU faculty members attract about $120 million in sponsored research funding.