Faculty Disclosures and Biosketches

Mehran Anvari, MB BS, PhD, FRCSC, FACS

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton - McMaster University - CMAS, Hamilton, CANADA

Associate Editor on WebSurg.com

Prof. Mehran Anvari received a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom in 1983 and a PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia in 1996.

In 1999, Prof. Mehran Anvari spearheaded the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery (CMAS), a McMaster University Centre located at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. CMAS is a centre that develops telemedicine technologies to help Canadian physicians in isolated communities gain better access to the latest medical knowledge, techniques and specialists. Prof. Anvari is currently a professor in the department of surgery at McMaster and since 1999, is also the Director of the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery.

In 2003, Prof. Anvari, at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton successfully performed the world's first hospital-to-hospital telerobotics-assisted surgery on a patient in North Bay, Ontario, nearly 400 kilometres away from Hamilton.

Prof. M Anvari has a fellowship in General Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is also a member of the Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES).

Prof. M Anvari has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations nor will he be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical devices products.

Jean-Charles Berthou, MD

Clinique Chirurgicale Mutualiste de la Porte de Lorient, Lorient,
FRANCE

Head Department of Surgery - Clinique Chirurgicale Mutualiste de la Porte de Lorient
Dr. JC Berthou is the Chairman of the Department of Digestive Surgery at the Clinique Chirurgicale Mutualiste. His specialty is in minimally invasive digestive surgery.

Dr. JC Berthou is a member of the French Society of Endoscopic Surgery, and of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery.
His publications include clinical research in the area of laparoscopic management of common bile stones and laparoscopic colectomies.

Dr. JC Berthou has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations nor will he be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical devices products.

Bernard Dallemagne, MD

Clinique Saint Joseph, Liège,
BELGIUM

Dr. Bernard Dallemagne is Head of the Department of Surgery, Cliniques Saint Joseph, Service de Chirurgie Digestive in Liege, Belgium. Dr. Dallemagne is a pioneer in minimally invasive surgical procedures as a long time practicing surgeon who broke ground in using endoscopic procedures in the field of general surgery. His publications include clinical research in the areas of cholecystectomy, esophagectomy, endoscopic fundoplication, vagotomy, abdominal pain, and pancreatitis.

Dr. Dallemagne is a prominent member of many international surgical societies including the Belgian Group of Endoscopic Surgery and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery and other Interventional Techniques. Dr. Dallemagne is the 1996 recipient of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons EXCEL award.

Dr. Dallemagne has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations.
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Jean-François Gigot, MD, PhD

Saint-Luc University Hospital, Louvain Medical School
Department of Digestive Surgery, Brussels, BELGIUM

Associate Professor, Department of Digestive Surgery - Clinique Universitaire Saint Luc

Dr. Jean-François Gigot is Professor of Surgery at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels. Dr. Gigot's career objectives focus on the development of a clinical, educational and research program in surgical hepato-biliary and pancreatic diseases. The main focus of his medical interests are hepato-biliary-pancreatic diseases, intraoperative ultrasonography, digestive laparoscopic surgery, and surgical flexible endoscopy.

Dr. Gigot is a member of numerous Belgian, European and international scientific societies, including the Belgian Royal Society of Surgery (he is a founding member of the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Section), the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) and the International Hepato-Biliary and Pancreatic Association (IHPBA). He also serves on the editorial boards of several medical journals in France, Italy and the United Kingdom (eg, Surgical Endoscopy).

Dr. Gigot has participated in a program of telesurgical teaching meetings (TESUS project of the European Community) in collaboration with various European universities.

Dr Gigot has not completed his Faculty Disclosure Form for Websurg at the time of this posting (11/18/2002).
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Guy Launoy, MD, PhD

Université de Caen, Caen,
FRANCE

Dr. Launoy has been a Research Analyst at INSERM (French National Institute for Medical Research) and Director of the Digestive Tumors Register of Calvados, France, since 1999.
He is also involved in research at the University of Caen, France.
Dr. Launoy has worked at the Biostatistic Unit of the Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK.
He is a member of various scientific societies and he is a research member of the Editorial Board of the ''Revue d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique''.

Dr. Launoy has no financial affiliations that would affect the presentation of content.
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Joël Leroy, MD

Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
FRANCE

Professor Joel Leroy has been involved in laparoscopic surgery for his entire medical career. A graduate of the Medical University of Lille, France, Professor Leroy completed his residency in digestive surgery at the University Hospital of Lille. He created and developed the first surgical division of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) specializing in colorectal surgery in 1991. Professor Leroy has standardized various surgical procedures, particularly in the colorectal field. He was appointed Associate Professor of Digestive Surgery at the University of Lille, France, in 1997.

In 1998, Professor Leroy was appointed by Professor Jacques Marescaux as Co-Director of the European Institute of TeleSurgery / Institute for Research in the Digestive Cancer (EITS/IRCAD) to develop and teach MIS.
He has also played an important role in the field of medical robotics, developing robotically-assisted MIS procedures at the European Institute for TeleSurgery where his contribution was the standardization of the ZEUS® Robotic Surgical System assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Professor Leroy is a member of the National Academy of Surgery, the French Association of Surgery (AFC), the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) and he is currently the Vice-President of the French Society of Endoscopic Surgery.

Professor Leroy has disclosed no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations. He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Jacques Marescaux, MD, FRCS

Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
FRANCE

WebSurg Editor-in-Chief, CME Editor on WebSurg.com
Head of General and Digestive Surgery Department
Université Louis Pasteur
Chairman, IRCAD-EITS
Strasbourg, France

Professor Marescaux is internationally renowned for his surgical experience in minimally invasive surgery. He has extensive experience in endocrine surgery and has developed operative techniques for gastrointestinal diseases.
He founded the Institute for Research in Digestive Cancer Surgery (IRCAD) and is Chairman of the European Institute for TeleSurgery (EITS), a specialized school, which trains more than 3000 surgeons annually in laparoscopic surgery. In September 2001, Professor Marescaux performed the first transatlantic robot-assisted operation known as the Lindbergh Operation.
On April 2nd 2007, Professor Jacques Marescaux and his team successfully performed the first no scar surgery. This first human incisionless operation was carried out using a flexible endoscope for transvaginal cholecystectomy in a 30-year-old woman with symptomatic gallstones. This world first was called "operation Anubis".

Professor Marescaux is active in many medical surgical associations including the Royal College of Surgeons (London), European Surgical Association, National Academy of Medicine and the European Society of Tele-Medicine.

Professor Marescaux has financial affiliations with KarlStorz and Covidien, sponsors of the EITS.
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Jeffrey Milsom, MD

Cornell University, New York,
UNITED STATES

Dr. Jeffrey Milsom is Chief of the Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery in Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He holds a national and international reputation in the area of colon and rectal surgery. His research projects include: angiogenesis related to colon cancer; the development of new technologies in laparoscopy colon rectal surgery and abdominal surgery and improving outcomes following colorectal using minimal invasive surgery techniques. Dr. Milsom is extremely involved in the development of new techniques in minimal invasive surgery including the use of robotics and molecular markers in colorectal cancer.

Dr. Milsom has held editorial appointments on six journals including Surgical Endoscopy, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, International Journal of Colorectal Diseases, Cancer, Oncology and Annals of Surgery. In addition, Dr. Milsom has been asked to participate in numerous national committees including the Laparoendoscopic Surgical Education Committee as party of the Association of Program Directors for Colon and Rectal Surgery and the Membership Committee of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons. Dr. Milsom is a Senior Examiner for the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

Dr. Milsom has not completed his Faculty Disclosure Form for WebSurg at the time of this posting (11/15/2002).
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Didier Mutter, MD, PhD

Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
FRANCE

Professor Didier Mutter specializes in minimally invasive digestive surgery.
He is co-founder and board member of the Administration Board of the Institute for Research in Digestive Cancer Surgery (IRCAD) and of the European Institute of TeleSurgery.
He also teaches general surgery at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and is a member of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery and of the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons.

Professor Mutter has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations.
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical of medical device products.

Benoît Navez, MD

General Digestive and Urology Department, Hôpital Saint Joseph, Gilly,
BELGIUM

Dr. Benoît Navez’s special interest is digestive surgery which he mainly performs laparoscopically. He is a founding member and General Secretary of the Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery (BGES), a member of the Scientific/Educational Committee and of the Administration Board of the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES). Dr. Navez also holds memberships in various specialized medical associations in Belgium and France.

Dr. Navez has performed extensive scientific and clinical research and has published numerous papers. He is a regularly invited speaker to numerous conferences, courses and lectures both nationally and internationally, and he has also organized specialized conferences and symposiums nationally and internationally.

Dr. Navez has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations. He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical of medical device products.

Junji Okuda, MD

Osaka Medical College, Osaka,
JAPAN

Assistant Professor
Chief, Section of Minimally invasive Surgery
Department of General & Gastroenterological Surgery
Osaka Medical College
Osaka, Japan

Dr. Junji Okuda is presently Assistant Professor in the Department of General & Gastroenterological Surgery at the Osaka Medical College, Osaka, Japan. He is one of the pioneers of laparoscopic colorectal surgery in Japan, integrating 3D CT imaging in collaboration with radiologists, and has performed many cancer related colorectal surgeries.

Dr. Okuda is a member of numerous Japanese surgical gastroenterological and cancer associations. He is a faculty member of the Japan Society of Endoscopic Surgery (JSES) and also organizes minimally invasive surgical groups with Urology and Gynecology Departments of Osaka Medical College. Dr. Okuda conducts annual laparoscopic colorectal surgery seminars in Osaka for international experts.

Dr. Okuda has research grants from Ethicon, Tyco, Karl Storz and Olympus.
He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Francesco Rubino, MD

IRCAD-EITS, Strasbourg,
FRANCE

Clinical Fellowship in Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery European Institute of TeleSurgery
Strasbourg, France

Dr. Francesco Rubino completed his residency training in general surgery from Catholic University in Rome, Italy. Before joining the European Institute of Telesurgery in 2001, Dr Rubino completed several fellowships: a clinical/research fellowship on breast cancer at the Catholic University of Rome, a research fellowship at the Division of Laparoscopic Surgery of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio (USA), and a research fellowship in laparoscopic surgery at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York (USA).

He is a member of the Italian Society of Endoscopic Surgery and is involved in numerous teaching and research activities in the field of digestive and endocrine surgery in France, Italy and the United States. He has also collaborated on many publications, books and conference proceedings as a peer reviewer or a co-author.

Dr. Rubino has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations. He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.

Michel Vix, MD

Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg,
FRANCE

Dr. Michel Vix is co-founder of the Institute for Research in Digestive Cancer Surgery (IRCAD) and a member of the European Institute of TeleSurgery (EITS). He has extensive experience in general and digestive surgery and is specialized in emergency surgery and morbid obesity. Dr. Vix has participated in the project 'Experimental, Interfacial, Analyses, Retrieval and Clinical Follow-up Studies of Implants and Medical Devices' with Professor Stig Karlsson. He is an elected member of the medical committee of the University Hospital of Strasbourg, and a member of various medical associations, including the Association Française de Chirurgie Endocrinienne and the Société Française de Chirurgie Digestive.

Dr. Vix has no financial affiliations that would affect the content of his presentations. He will not be discussing any US FDA non-approved uses for pharmaceutical or medical device products.