Research

Research Area : Robotic Acute Care Surgery

My research asks what robotic surgery can offer patients who need emergency or complex general surgery — and how to build the training infrastructure for surgeons to perform it well.

Robotic surgery has historically been confined to elective, planned procedures. My work at BIDMC focuses on extending that capability into acute care — applying robotic-assisted techniques to patients who present emergently or require complex general surgery operations that have traditionally been performed open or laparoscopically.

As the first Acute Care Surgeon at BIDMC to pursue robotic training, we have established a program from the ground up: developing protocols, training the division, and pushing forward with more complex cases. The program now provides robotic coverage around the clock for both emergency and elective cases.

Current research, funded by the Intuitive Foundation, evaluates outcomes from the BIDMC Robotic Acute Care Surgery program. We are examining whether robotic approaches offer measurable benefits — in complication rates, length of stay, and recovery — for patients who previously would have been managed with conventional techniques.