thank you
humanity is at a crossroads
over the last 200 years we’ve been able
to achieve what in earlier times that
have been described as miracles through
our mastery of science and technology
we’ve been able to achieve the
unimaginable we’ve been able to condense
journeys from days to hours we’ve
learned how to fly we’ve even taken
steps beyond our own planet we’ve built
vast metropolis as of tens of millions
of people we’ve eradicated previously
incurable diseases and harnessed
electricity to give us energy light and
warmth we’ve even changed the way we
communicate to transcend time and space
the acceleration we’ve seen in digital
innovation and change is faster than
ever before and digital technology is
changing how we communicate how we
socialize work and play and with these
great accomplishments we can no longer
ignore the consequences through this
increased efficiency and productivity
we’ve been able to increase wealth and
social mobility and with advances in
healthcare we’ve almost doubled the life
expectancy over the last 200 years and
populations have reached unprecedented
levels so this poses a stark challenge
do we have the resources to cope with
this vast population and if not whose
responsibility is it to find a solution
economists might sum this as a problem
of supply and demand as a result of our
success we need more than we can provide
today I’d like to share with you a story
how I’ve seen this in my own experience
in my own profession surgery as a
reconstructive surgeon I’ve seen these
challenges firsthand did you know that 5
billion people around the world lack
access to safe surgical care 5 billion
people
seventy percent of the world’s
population who can’t even access simple
surgical care as in when they need it
but before I go on I want to tell you
this is not going to be a story of
pessimism and helplessness today is a
story of hope because I believe we have
the capacity to achieve great things and
no matter how big these challenges are
we have the resourcefulness to find the
solutions so let’s go back to this
problem of supply and demand what it
really boils down to is that there’s
just not enough surgical expertise to go
around there aren’t enough surgeons
despite huge advances in technology and
healthcare and surgery and new
techniques and more specialist surgeons
t treating the most complex diseases the
population is soaring and healthcare
expectations rising surgeons just can’t
keep up let’s go to West Africa home of
over two hundred and forty five million
people it was reported that there are
only ten qualified pediatric surgeons
ten the numbers are astounding but this
is not a problem for just that part of
the world all of you sitting here may
think it’s really sad and unfortunate
but here I can access surgery when I
need it through my local hospital clinic
but the harsh reality is that’s not true
and the NHS is struggling under the
sheer demand of the population and its
requirements today you may wait a long
time to get the surgery that you need or
you may have to travel vast distances to
get it or you may not even be able to
access it at all
rationing is becoming an everyday
reality of all healthcare systems
everywhere in the world developed and
developing so what’s the solution
how do we redistribute this expertise
around the world how do we force
multiply what we already have I believe
that solutions and science technology
don’t just happen they’re driven by a
reason by a purpose
look at how the Internet and mobile
technology has transformed how we
communicate it’s broken barriers of time
and space and we can connect to anyone
anywhere in the world a couple of years
ago I started to ask myself this
question I started to think these
amazing breakthroughs can they not also
make a difference in healthcare
why don’t we harness the power of
augmented reality and digital technology
augmented reality which was prevalent in
the gaming industry and digital
technology was connecting people around
the world and so we did and my team and
I built an award-winning augmented
reality platform proxy me that allows
the surgeon to virtually transport
himself into any clinical setting
anywhere in the world to visually and
practically interact with another doctor
in real time guiding them through
procedures step by step and all they
needed was simply a mobile device a
laptop or a computer we were able to
create virtual presence so that people
could interact in a way that mimics how
they would collaborate together as if
they were in the same room I want to
show you a video just to illustrate this
but I want there’s some graphic images
here we go and so we were really excited
about this technology but we were more
excited about the impact it had for me I
believe it’s not just about how great
the technology is it’s the impact it can
make on people’s lives and we started to
catch first glimpses of this in a case
in Gaza Ali was a young man whose hand
was mutilated by a bomb blast injury he
was a sole breadwinner of his
family and had ambitions of becoming a
nurse and these dreams were crushed
within minutes medical resources were
extremely scarce in Gaza but dr. Hafez a
local surgeon was committed to helping
him and he was able to get a hold of
this technology and to link it with dr.
Hassan and Beirut
now dr. Hassan could virtually scrub in
and illustrate and demonstrate what
needed to be happening happening step by
step together they reconstructed ali’s
hand now ali has a functioning hand and
he’s pursuing his ambitions of becoming
a nurse this story won the Foreign Press
Association sign story of the year
because of how technology was making a
difference in people’s lives no matter
where they were and no matter how scarce
the access was we’ve also seen its
impact in other parts of the world and
in South America and a town of Trujillo
north of Peru where children rating many
many months to get access to cleft lip
and palate surgery it was because there
was just not enough local doctors
trained in these techniques with the
help of a charity we were able to
connect them with a surgeon in
California and this cleft surgeon was
able to join in remotely guiding them
and mentoring them to the latest
techniques in cleft surgery now they’re
able to deliver this care for their
local population independently
confidently and competently and again I
want to remind you here this is not a
problem for just that part of the world
or the developing world in the US alone
it was reported that by 2030 they’re
gonna need an extra hundred thousand
surgeons just to cope with routine
surgical procedures here in the UK we’ve
also seen its use and I’d like to
introduce you to Edward Edward was a
lovely frail old gentleman who needed
skin cancer reconstruction to his face
this was not available at his local
hospital and he was told that he would
have to travel vast distances to a
teaching hospital to get this care
Edward was scared and his family were
concerned but through this technology we
were able to connect an expert surgeon
from the teaching hospital who guided
the local surgeon through that procedure
Edward was able to get the care that he
needed locally
we were able to save money with
transport and we were able to upskill
the local surgical community but our
ambitions are bigger than this remote
collaborations not just about
demonstrating a procedure it’s about
connecting surgical and medical
communities all around the world to
build bridges that are going to help us
to radically solve these problems of
supply and demand through this free
sharing of expertise we want to upskill
doctors around the world faster and
quicker with a broader range of skills
some may dismiss as a science fiction
virtual surgery augmented surgery tele
surgery remote surgery they sound like
words from a film but they’re not these
are technological realities in the
here-and-now that can radically improve
how we can access healthcare no matter
where we are if I ask one thing of you
today and if my children who are here in
the audience is that you need to believe
in miracles if 30 years ago someone told
you with this simple device you could
voice text video call call anyone around
the world check your email listen to
music Bank shop online you would believe
them but now we know different and with
proxy me and this augmented reality
platform we’re just starting to see the
potential we’re just getting started
thank you
you
humanity is at a crossroads
over the last 200 years we’ve been able
to achieve what in earlier times that
have been described as miracles through
our mastery of science and technology
we’ve been able to achieve the
unimaginable we’ve been able to condense
journeys from days to hours we’ve
learned how to fly we’ve even taken
steps beyond our own planet we’ve built
vast metropolis as of tens of millions
of people we’ve eradicated previously
incurable diseases and harnessed
electricity to give us energy light and
warmth we’ve even changed the way we
communicate to transcend time and space
the acceleration we’ve seen in digital
innovation and change is faster than
ever before and digital technology is
changing how we communicate how we
socialize work and play and with these
great accomplishments we can no longer
ignore the consequences through this
increased efficiency and productivity
we’ve been able to increase wealth and
social mobility and with advances in
healthcare we’ve almost doubled the life
expectancy over the last 200 years and
populations have reached unprecedented
levels so this poses a stark challenge
do we have the resources to cope with
this vast population and if not whose
responsibility is it to find a solution
economists might sum this as a problem
of supply and demand as a result of our
success we need more than we can provide
today I’d like to share with you a story
how I’ve seen this in my own experience
in my own profession surgery as a
reconstructive surgeon I’ve seen these
challenges firsthand did you know that 5
billion people around the world lack
access to safe surgical care 5 billion
people
seventy percent of the world’s
population who can’t even access simple
surgical care as in when they need it
but before I go on I want to tell you
this is not going to be a story of
pessimism and helplessness today is a
story of hope because I believe we have
the capacity to achieve great things and
no matter how big these challenges are
we have the resourcefulness to find the
solutions so let’s go back to this
problem of supply and demand what it
really boils down to is that there’s
just not enough surgical expertise to go
around there aren’t enough surgeons
despite huge advances in technology and
healthcare and surgery and new
techniques and more specialist surgeons
t treating the most complex diseases the
population is soaring and healthcare
expectations rising surgeons just can’t
keep up let’s go to West Africa home of
over two hundred and forty five million
people it was reported that there are
only ten qualified pediatric surgeons
ten the numbers are astounding but this
is not a problem for just that part of
the world all of you sitting here may
think it’s really sad and unfortunate
but here I can access surgery when I
need it through my local hospital clinic
but the harsh reality is that’s not true
and the NHS is struggling under the
sheer demand of the population and its
requirements today you may wait a long
time to get the surgery that you need or
you may have to travel vast distances to
get it or you may not even be able to
access it at all
rationing is becoming an everyday
reality of all healthcare systems
everywhere in the world developed and
developing so what’s the solution
how do we redistribute this expertise
around the world how do we force
multiply what we already have I believe
that solutions and science technology
don’t just happen they’re driven by a
reason by a purpose
look at how the Internet and mobile
technology has transformed how we
communicate it’s broken barriers of time
and space and we can connect to anyone
anywhere in the world a couple of years
ago I started to ask myself this
question I started to think these
amazing breakthroughs can they not also
make a difference in healthcare
why don’t we harness the power of
augmented reality and digital technology
augmented reality which was prevalent in
the gaming industry and digital
technology was connecting people around
the world and so we did and my team and
I built an award-winning augmented
reality platform proxy me that allows
the surgeon to virtually transport
himself into any clinical setting
anywhere in the world to visually and
practically interact with another doctor
in real time guiding them through
procedures step by step and all they
needed was simply a mobile device a
laptop or a computer we were able to
create virtual presence so that people
could interact in a way that mimics how
they would collaborate together as if
they were in the same room I want to
show you a video just to illustrate this
but I want there’s some graphic images
here we go and so we were really excited
about this technology but we were more
excited about the impact it had for me I
believe it’s not just about how great
the technology is it’s the impact it can
make on people’s lives and we started to
catch first glimpses of this in a case
in Gaza Ali was a young man whose hand
was mutilated by a bomb blast injury he
was a sole breadwinner of his
family and had ambitions of becoming a
nurse and these dreams were crushed
within minutes medical resources were
extremely scarce in Gaza but dr. Hafez a
local surgeon was committed to helping
him and he was able to get a hold of
this technology and to link it with dr.
Hassan and Beirut
now dr. Hassan could virtually scrub in
and illustrate and demonstrate what
needed to be happening happening step by
step together they reconstructed ali’s
hand now ali has a functioning hand and
he’s pursuing his ambitions of becoming
a nurse this story won the Foreign Press
Association sign story of the year
because of how technology was making a
difference in people’s lives no matter
where they were and no matter how scarce
the access was we’ve also seen its
impact in other parts of the world and
in South America and a town of Trujillo
north of Peru where children rating many
many months to get access to cleft lip
and palate surgery it was because there
was just not enough local doctors
trained in these techniques with the
help of a charity we were able to
connect them with a surgeon in
California and this cleft surgeon was
able to join in remotely guiding them
and mentoring them to the latest
techniques in cleft surgery now they’re
able to deliver this care for their
local population independently
confidently and competently and again I
want to remind you here this is not a
problem for just that part of the world
or the developing world in the US alone
it was reported that by 2030 they’re
gonna need an extra hundred thousand
surgeons just to cope with routine
surgical procedures here in the UK we’ve
also seen its use and I’d like to
introduce you to Edward Edward was a
lovely frail old gentleman who needed
skin cancer reconstruction to his face
this was not available at his local
hospital and he was told that he would
have to travel vast distances to a
teaching hospital to get this care
Edward was scared and his family were
concerned but through this technology we
were able to connect an expert surgeon
from the teaching hospital who guided
the local surgeon through that procedure
Edward was able to get the care that he
needed locally
we were able to save money with
transport and we were able to upskill
the local surgical community but our
ambitions are bigger than this remote
collaborations not just about
demonstrating a procedure it’s about
connecting surgical and medical
communities all around the world to
build bridges that are going to help us
to radically solve these problems of
supply and demand through this free
sharing of expertise we want to upskill
doctors around the world faster and
quicker with a broader range of skills
some may dismiss as a science fiction
virtual surgery augmented surgery tele
surgery remote surgery they sound like
words from a film but they’re not these
are technological realities in the
here-and-now that can radically improve
how we can access healthcare no matter
where we are if I ask one thing of you
today and if my children who are here in
the audience is that you need to believe
in miracles if 30 years ago someone told
you with this simple device you could
voice text video call call anyone around
the world check your email listen to
music Bank shop online you would believe
them but now we know different and with
proxy me and this augmented reality
platform we’re just starting to see the
potential we’re just getting started
thank you
you
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