KS National Robotic Surgery Video Awards Finalists to be Announced Saturday, January 30thNews
11th Jan 2021 Site
On Friday, January 8 2021, the Vattikuti Foundation Webinar Series presented an important program for colleagues in Head & Neck surgery. Two of India's most knowledgeable practitioners of Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS), Drs. Surender Dabas & Anand Subash discussed Patient Selection in Robotic Surgery for Cancer of the Mouth and Throat. The edited webinar recording is now available on the VFRSI website: https://vfrsi.vattikutifoundation.com/tors-patient-selection
11th Jan 2021 Site
KS National Robotic Surgery Video Awards Finalists to be Announced Saturday, January 30thOn January 30th, 2021, we are announcing and screening the 8-Finalists for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards in the KS National Robotic Surgery Video Awards. The Awards honor the late Vattikuti Technologies C. E. O., Krishnaswamy Subrahmaniam, and have been sponsored by the Vattikuti Foundation since 2015. . KS, as he liked to be called, was instrumental in the development of robotic surgery in India, and was a friend to many before unexpectedly succumbing to illness. Following the screening, our webinar attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their top 3 videos. The Foundation will also have an international panel of robotic surgeons judging the Finalists at the same time. Scores from all will be tabulated, and the three Winners will be revealed on February 6th in a live webinar Awards program!
Here is the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_APH3aalFRtCl0dbN8lC5dQ
08th Jan 2021 Site
Saturday, January 16th, 2021, the Vattikuti Foundation Webinar Series will have a LIVE program especially for patients- presented by Dr. Ashwin Tamhankar, a former Vattikuti Fellow. Dr. Tamhankar, now a respected Consultant Uro-oncologist & Robotic Surgeon in Navi Mumbai at Apollo Hospital will present: Blood in Urine- Is It An Alarming Symptom?
Our Moderator for the program is Dr. Mahendra Bhandari, Vattikuti Foundation CEO and Director of Robotic Surgery Education & Research for the Vattikuti Urology Institute at the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Dr. Bhandari has decades of experience as a pioneer kidney transplant surgeon, having served on many international bodies and also by leading academic programs in India and the US.
The link to register for this program is: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3316099384573/WN_EMzVNVbBQUuEeTQcTNUWfw
01st Jan 2021 Media
Online news service MedicalXpress recently shared an article from the Mayo Clinic abut the beneficial aspects of music. As a Musician myself (trumpet, accordion, amateur composer), I know how much pleasure I receive from being a member of two community bands- and playing at my church. Music is important in so many ways. The Mayo Clinic tells us: "It is no surprise then that music is so fundamental to development as humans and their continued psychological well-being."
Click on the title above for more on this topic.
30th Dec 2020 Site
By: Dave Meinhard, VF
The website The Medical Futurist recently posted an opinion piece about the reluctance of patients to accept the services of purely robotic tools specifically designed to ease the stress and trauma of blood draws- a necessary part of medical diagnostics. 
While I am blessed with the 'best blood vessels in the business,' and have readily (& easily) donated over 13-gallons of my blood to the American Red Cross over the years, I know how difficult it can be for many people to have blood drawn. Multiple needle sticks, slow flow, collapsed vessels- are not pleasant!
This is why I was excited to read of the 'Veebot' a few years ago. It looked to be the way to make blood draws much safer and less unpleasant. For some reason, it has yet to catch on with patients, according to the website. For more, including an excerpt, please click on the headline above.
The Medical Futurist article is linked here:
My 1-gallon Red Cross pin- #13 is kept safely at home.
28th Dec 2020 Site
Save the date, January 30, 2021, because the Finalists will be revealed for the 2020 KS National Robotic Surgery Awards!
Currently, our panel of judges are screening the individual entries individually. Foundation staff will be tabulating the results the first week of the New Year. We will name the Finalists here on the VFRSI website as soon as possible!
All eight of India’s top robotic surgery videos will be screened during a LIVE Webinar on January 30th, 2021 at 6:30 PM IST / 8 AM EST. The three top videos will be selected from the results tabulated from our international panel of judges AND our webinar audience!
The top three prize Winners will be revealed in a LIVE webinar on February 5th.
Please click on the headline for "Breaking News!"
28th Dec 2020 Site
Dr. Mahendra Bhandari provides a few thoughts on the Foundation's efforts this past year- and his goals for 2021 in a short video message:
https://vfrsi.vattikutifoundation.com/vattikuti-foundation-year-end-message-2020
24th Dec 2020 Site
Recently, surgeons gathered in a Zoom meeting to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the first Robot Assisted Radical Prostatectomy, which came to be known as the Vattikuti Institute Prostatectomy, or VIP.
Henry Ford Medical Group CEO Dr. Steven Kalkanis was among the first to speak to the group. Here are some of his remarks:
"It’s great to be with all of you on this momentous occasion. You blink an eye, and twenty years goes by, with something that has been honored in the Smithsonian. And we are all here to just honor this incredible Department, this incredible legacy, and Dr. Menon."
Please click on the title above to access the complete transcript.
23rd Dec 2020 Media
The Italian word for raising a music score passage one octave- Ottava- is the name selected by healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson for their 6-arm robotic surgery system still in development. Online news service +Mass Device has reported. From the report: "The company is planning on beginning verification and validation processes for Ottava in 2021, followed by enrollment in clinical trials for the device in 2022."
for the complete report, please use this link:
15th Dec 2020 Media
PhysOrg, a global online science/technology news website reports that a team has been successful in turning an iPhone into a scientific device to study genome equencing with the addition of a DNA sequencer coupled to the phone.
Please click on the headline for more information.