What if the most common surgery in medicine could become one of the most consistent through robotics?
In my latest conversation, I sat down with Dr. Joseph Nathan, Founder and CEO of ForSight Robotics, to explore why ophthalmology is becoming one of the next frontiers for surgical robotics. We discussed how cataract surgery, the most common procedure in medicine, is uniquely suited for robotic assistance because of its repetitive nature and the need for extraordinary precision. Dr. Nathan shared how advances in AI, computing power, and robotics are helping create systems designed to improve consistency and predictability for both surgeons and patients. He also emphasized the importance of bringing these technologies to market responsibly while maintaining the highest standards of patient safety and cybersecurity.
If you're curious about where AI, robotics, and ophthalmology are converging to reshape one of the world's most common surgeries, this is a conversation you won't want to miss!
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[00:00:03] Hello everyone, welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket, reporting live here from SRS in Hollywood, Florida. It's beautiful here at The Diplomat and the even better thing is the people we get to hang out with at this robotics conference. Today I have the privilege of hosting Dr. Joseph Nathan. He's the founder and CEO at ForSight Robotics. Joseph, welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:28] Hey, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks for making time. You had a panel this morning? Yeah, I was on a very exciting panel on the future of robotics and ophthalmology. This is a relatively new era that's evolving and makes a lot of sense for robotics. What is the biggest thing that makes sense in ophthalmology for robotics?
[00:00:49] We have in ophthalmic surgery something called caract surgery. So every individual will eventually get caract surgery because his lens ages with time, so it gets obscured. And caract surgery is the most common procedure in all of medicine. And the thing about caract surgery is that it has to be done in a very repetitive manner. And we hear surgeons all the time and also myself was saying, we operate like robots.
[00:01:19] We need to do the same, literally saying that, literally saying that. We need to do the same thing. It's super important. Like, we're actually, yeah, it's super important for the patient that the surgeon does exactly the same movements, the same incisions. You know, when we saw that, we said, me and my co-founders, this is ideal for robotics and for robotic automation. That's fantastic. And you're literally talking about listening to the market.
[00:01:47] We operate like robots. How about a robot? When you said that, I thought it was great. So tell me a little bit about you, your background and about the company. Sure. So my background is mixed engineering and medicine. I did a bachelor's and master's in engineering at Israel, but I'm also a physician. I did resistant ophthalmic surgery. Okay. And I experienced the, I would say, eye care firsthand.
[00:02:12] So how important it is for a patient to come in and to have the best outcomes, right? We want this era of robotic technology. And we here in the SRS, we're seeing these amazing technologies. I think that patients should benefit for the best technology to be translated to the best possible outcomes. So for me, about six years ago, I started to do the surgeries and it was super tough as a surgeon.
[00:02:40] I was sweating and I said, there's no way that this is the best we can do. So I approached my co-founder, Professor Moshe Shon. He's well known for founding Mesa Robotics, which is the leading robot in spine surgery. And together with Dr. Daniel Glossman, we said these six years ago, this is the right time when we can do a robot that is so precise because the eye is such a small order. Just one inch from the back to the front of the eye.
[00:03:10] So you need immense precision, a lot of computing power. And that was the right time where all the technological advancement came in together. And we started ForSight Robotics. Well, that's fantastic. You got a credible founding crew, a major problem with a huge opportunity with just the right timing where all the tech, the hardware, the software is developed in such a way to make a difference. What brings you to SRS?
[00:03:38] Well, SRS is the best place to meet our colleagues from other disciplines. We are also fortunate enough to get a very strong strategic advisor. So on our board of directors and one of our investors is Dr. Fred Moll. And it's a great venue to also have some time with Fred. Roni Abovich, founder of Mako. And David Mintz, one of the first employees in Intuitive, VPR&D and Oris. If you think about it, we were able to create under one umbrella. That's pretty unique for Foresight.
[00:04:08] The three founders that are responsible for the surgical robotic market working together. Yeah. To basically replicate their success in general surgery and spine and orthopedics now in ophthalmic surgery. Well, that's fantastic and exciting. Super exciting. I think these are very exciting times. Obviously, with the advancements that we have in AI, that robot today or robotic platforms are basically a physical agent of AI in the OR.
[00:04:37] That creates a wealth of opportunities. And I think that you will continue to see evoke that are infused by the moments of AI and the advancements that we have in AI. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's definitely an exciting time. As you think about the field of robotics, and you can answer this in general or in ophthalmology, where do you see it going?
[00:04:58] In general, I would say I see it going to being more and more assisting the surgeons by doing either very complex procedures or having better throughput. But for sure, consistency. Yeah. If there's something that we want as surgeons, it's predictability and consistency. So giving the patients the confidence that they will get the best possible outcomes, I think that this is something that robotics can do.
[00:05:27] And this is our biggest emphasized at Foresight Robotics. That's exciting. And I definitely think it's a big opportunity. What do you think is going to be the biggest opportunity for the space here in the next two, three years? To be very objective, I think of phalmic surgery. You know, if you think about it, we have over 2 billion people who are vision impaired. And this is a field that is robotic naive. There's no robot currently on the market. We're going to be the first one.
[00:05:57] And think of general surgery 15 years ago before intuitive. So this creates an opportunity to have another intuitive in a space that is one of the biggest markets in medicine. Yeah, I love that. And so as you think about next steps when you leave here and for folks watching and listening to this, what call to action you want to leave people with? It is, you know, for patients. I think that this is tremendous.
[00:06:24] This is the way to get consistency. We all want our surgeons to be well rested. You want to be the first case. You want to have them laser focused on what it's doing. It's not always the case. The last patient of the day. So I think there's a huge opportunity for patients. What's going on here is amazing. I think on the other side for the industry here, there's a lot of responsibility. Yeah. To build the right technologies.
[00:06:53] To go in a very responsible manner to the market. I think it could be a long journey depending on the specialty. So I think super exciting needs to be very thoughtful and done as awful a little man. In many things, I keep hearing about cyber and security, right? Sure. A big piece of what you guys are doing. Yeah, overall. So cyber and security are important, very important parts.
[00:07:20] This is done, this is being regulated very well by the agency, the FDA. So cyber security is like everybody knows the regulation, what they need to go through. It's super important. I think that the manufacturers, the companies are really understanding the threat and are doing whatever it takes to have good protection around cyber. That's great. So are you going to be going to any of the iConferences then? Yeah, we usually attend the major one.
[00:07:48] For us is the ASCRS, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. Okay. Then we have the European counterpart, which is the ESCRS. Okay. And then we have the academy, like every other specialty has. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So that's another place people can find you for sure. Okay. Okay. Fantastic. Look, super exciting to hear about the progress that you and the team are making. If people wanted to reach out to you directly or to the company Foresight, where can they reach out?
[00:08:18] You know, best thing is either email us on our website or through LinkedIn. LinkedIn, it's easy. It's a great place. We're happy to engage. Fantastic. Fantastic. There you have it, folks. The amazing Dr. Joseph Nathan, founder and CEO of Foresight Robotics. Thank you all for tuning in to this episode straight from SRS. In the show notes, you're going to find all the ways to get in touch with him and his team. So make sure you do that if something today resonated to you, because this is how we make a difference happen.
[00:08:48] Thanks and have a good one. Thank you so much.