New Technologies, Precision Medicine, and Ai in Emergency General Surgery: Revolutionizing Surgical Practice for Optimal Patient Care

Belinda De Simone, MD, PhD

Belinda De Simone graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University “Sapienza” of Roma; she then moved to Parma (Italy) to pursue her interest to become a visceral surgeon; here she was trained in emergency and trauma surgery and scientific research by Prof. Catena. She then moved to the academic Hospitals of Poissy and Saint Germain en Laye (France) to work with an expert minimally invasive surgeon, Prof. Elie Chouillard.

After obtaining her specialization in general surgery, Dr. Belinda De Simone joined the executive board of the World Society of Emergency Surgery as a young researcher and surgeon.

She was the responsible of scientific research from 2020 to 2023 at the Poissy and Saint Germain en Laye Hospitals. Her main research interests are emergency surgery and trauma management, geriatric emergency surgery, treatment of infections in emergency surgery and proper use of antibiotics, long-term outcomes of metabolic surgery, abdominal Wall surgery and complex hernia repair, artificial Intelligence and high technology implementation in emergency and trauma surgery. Currently, Dr Belinda De Simone divides her professional life between France and Italy, cultivating her multiple interests in surgical research and life as a woman surgeon, committed to promoting the importance of training in emergency surgery to improve the management of fragile and critically ill surgical patients.

Fausto Catena MD, PhD, FRCS

Professor Fausto Catena is a world-renowned opinion leader in emergency general surgery. Until 2011, he was Consultant General Surgeon at the Dept. of General, Emergency and Transplant Surgery with at the St Orsola- Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna; from 2012 to 2020 he covered the role of Chief Department of Emergency and General Surgery at the Parma University Hospital, and in 2021 he moved to the Bufalini Hospital of Cesena, Italy, where he currently is Chief Department of General and Emergency Surgery. His research activity is focused on emergency surgery (acute cholecystitis, adhesion, intra-abdominal infections, trauma), renal transplantation (graft preservation), oncologic surgery (GIST and carcinomatosis- HIPEC), colorectal surgery (elective and emergency colorectal cancer, diverticular disease) and abdominal wall surgery (biological prostheses). He performed more than 4000 medium- high level surgical procedures. Winner of 20 national and international scientific prizes. Prof Catena is a member of many national and international Scientific Societies. General Secretary of the World Society of Emergency Surgery, he also is one of the Editors-in. Chief of its official organ,

Andrew A. Gumbs MD, MSc (AI), FACS

Professor Gumbs is the Director of Artificial Intelligence Surgery at the Hôpital Antoine Béclère, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence Surgery (aisjournal.net) and is the Chief Medical Officer of ACCREA Medical Robotics, which specializes in collaborative interventional robotics. He is also the President and founder of the Artificial Intelligence Organization for the Next generation of Surgeons (AIONS.ai). Professor of Surgery at Grigol Robakidze University and the University of Magdeburg, he was previously Director of the Minimally Invasive Hepatic-Pancreatic-Biliary Surgery Program at SMG-MD Anderson Cancer Center and prior to that the Director of Minimally Invasive Hepatobiliary Surgery and at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been Instructor of Clinical Surgery at Cornell-Weill Medical College, Instructor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. He is certified in general surgery, hepatic-pancreatic and biliary surgery, robotic and in laparoscopic surgery. He has delivered local, regional, national, and international invited presentations primarily devoted to minimally invasive surgical techniques for the liver, pancreas, and digestive organs and artificial intelligence surgery. His articles have been published in Annals of Surgery, Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He has volunteered for Doctors without Borders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti and has also done several humanitarian missions to Ecuador. 

Haytham Kaafarani, MD

Haitham Kaafarani is Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard University as well as a surgeon-scientist and patient safety & quality expert at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was was appointed in 2022 as the Chief Patient Safety Officer of The Joint Commission at national and international level. In that role, where he serves as the president’s designee to prioritize patient safety concerns at Joint Commission-accredited health care organizations. His clinical activity is related to trauma and critical care, complex wound care and operative general surgery. From a research perspective, his focus is on improving surgical outcomes, patient safety and quality benchmarking of surgical care, using advanced health services and artificial intelligence/machine-learning methodologies. He is an official ATLS, ATOM and ASSET Lecturer, Instructor, and previously course director for the latter two, and has been recognized multiple times with teaching awards.

Andrew W. Kirkpatrick, MD, MHSc, FRCSC, FACS

Andrew W. Kirkpatrick is a Professor in both the Departments of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine at the Foothills Medical Centre of the University of Calgary, and the former Medical Director of Regional Trauma Services. Dr. Kirkpatrick graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Ottawa, with fellowships in Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Toronto with a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia. He is a Past President of the Trauma Association of Canada and the Abdominal Compartment Society. Dr. Kirkpatrick has more than 450 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, mainly concerning intra-abdominal hypertension, emergency sonography, hypothermia, aerospace medicine and occult pneumothoraces. He is the current Director of the TeleMentored Ultrasound Supported Medical Interventions (TMUSMI) Research Group. He is a past executive member of the Canadian Emergency Ultrasound Society and the Canadian Association of General Surgeons Evidence Based Reviews in Surgery Committees. He has consulted for the Canadian Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He retains a reserve commission in the Canadian Forces and has served oversees on several occasions with both the Canadian Forces and non-governmental Relief Agencies. He is a former Paratrooper and Flight Surgeon and currently maintains a current pilots license. He has completed over 500 parabolas of parabolic flight research.