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The Center for Advanced Computer Studies and Lafayette General Medical Center are pleased to announce the distinguished speaker, Professor Sir Ara Darzi KBE, who will give a presentation entitled Technology in Surgery as part of the 19th Louisiana Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture will take place Friday, Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. in HL Griffin room 147. The public is invited to attend.

The Louisiana Distinguished Lecture Series is the longest running series in the nation, and this year marks its 40-year anniversary of computing at UL Lafayette and the 20-year anniversary of The Center for Advanced Computer Studies.

“ It features very high caliber speakers, they are pioneers in their fields,” Dr. Madgy Bayoumi, director of the Center for Advanced Computer Studies at UL Lafayette, said.

Darzi is professor of surgery and head of Surgical Oncology and Technology Department at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at St. Mary's Hospital in London.

“ Professor Darzi was chosen because he is one of the most well known people who uses technology in surgery,” Bayoumi said. “His research and practice in using Virtual Reality is far fetching and futuristic. The topic of the lecture fits very well the CACS and UL Lafayette emphasis on Biotechnology, Virtual Reality, and Visualization.”

The lecture will focus on highlighting advances and potentials for the future. Outlined in the abstract, Darzi states that there is a rapid transition taking place concerning the future of medical practices, especially surgery. Laparoscopic surgery, as he states, provided the “wake-up call to the information age” as the leading edge technology, and has become the accepted standard of medical practice. Through technology, however, there have been further improvements.

He states that the Industrial Age is being replaced by the Information Age, and conventional surgery is being replaced by a host of minimally invasive therapies and noninvasive procedures, in particular noninvasive image-guided procedures or Interventional MR.

“ His lecture should be of interest to medical doctors, medical ITs, hospitals administrators, and medical personnel in general,” Bayoumi said. “The topic fits very much one of the main goals and activities of LITE (Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise) where medical visualization is one of its plans.”

Darzi's main clinical and academic interest is in minimal invasive therapy, including imaging and biological research together with investigating methods to measure core competencies of surgery objectively. He is well respected also for his innovative work in the advancement of minimal invasive surgery and in the development and use of allied technologies including surgical robots and image-guided surgery.

Darzi also actively pursues and campaigns for the need for improved inter-disciplinary research with a closer integration of information technology, biotechnology and physical sciences. Bayoumi noted that the lecture would be of interest to people across disciplines. “Faculty and students, graduate and undergraduate, from all departments, especially science, engineering, nursing and visual arts would have some interest in this lecture,” he said.

Darzi leads a team of researchers engaged in a number of fundamental research issues related to the future development of minimally invasive surgery as well as covering a wide spectrum of engineering and basic sciences research topics encompassing Medical Image Computing, Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Safety, Robotics, Man-Machine Interfacing, Virtual/Augmented Reality and Bio-Medical Simulation.

“ I hope that people will get an idea of what the latest technologies that are used in surgery and what the role of virtual reality and visualization are,” Bayoumi said. “Where is the future taking us? Will we ever have surgery with no cuts or openings? Students will see how these gagets, googles, and other virtual reality toys are used for a very serious matter. Faculty will get an idea of the latest research topics in VR and Visualization applications.”

Bayoumi said that having such a prominent speaker is bringing national and international recognition to CACS, UL Lafayette and the city. “It is a testimony to the prominence and achievements we have realized in Computer Science and Engineering,” he said. “It is a reflection of CACS' far reaching research. It is a reflection of the positive dynamics among different establishments in Lafayette. It is a reflection of Dr. Authement's vision and commitment to excellence.”