Robots hold the potential to be infinitely more precise and accurate than the human hand. In procedures that require micro-maneuvers and extreme precision, such as gene therapy and retinal vein cannulation, even the tiniest amount of hand tremor can hamper the outcomes.
With the group of Professor MacLaren at the University of Oxford, Jasmina Kapetanovic, MD, PhD, has been a pioneer in this field. In this video, she speaks with Anat Loewenstein, MD, about the present and future of robotic-assisted surgery.
Jasmina Kapetanovic, MD, PhD, is an MRC Clinician Scientist and a vitreoretinal surgeon, working with the Clinical Ophthalmology Research Group of Professor MacLaren at the University of Oxford. She received her undergraduate (MA in Physiological Sciences, Balliol College) and medical degrees at the University of Oxford. She was awarded the UK’s first NIHR integrated clinical academic fellowship programme in ophthalmology and has since awarded Masters in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (First Class) and a PhD in Medicine (gene therapy and optogenetics) via the MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship at the University of Manchester, UK. Her PhD in optogenetic vision restoration was awarded the prestigious Russell Medal for the best UK paper in vision research and several outstanding awards including the MRC Centenary Award and Retinitis Pigmentosa Fighting Blindness Award. As a Keeler scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, she conducted a post-doctoral research into adeno-associated vector biology for ocular applications, under the mentorship of Professor Flannery. She completed the specialist training and was admitted as a fellow (FRCOphth) into the UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Dr. Kapetanovic has won over 30 awards during her early career as an academic ophthalmologist. Her research focuses on vision restoration and development of therapies for inherited retinal degenerations and dry AMD. She is currently working on developing innovative optogenetic strategies and surgical techniques including robot-assisted retinal surgery for future applications in genetic therapies. She was recently awarded an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship Award to continue working at this cutting-edge research.
Anat Loewenstein, MD, MHA, IVEG member, is Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Sidney Fox Chair of Ophthalmology at Tel Aviv University, Chairman of Ophthalmology at Sourasky Medical Center. She is currently President of the Israeli ophthalmological society and President Elect of EURETINA. She is a pioneer of innovative technologies for early detection of macular degeneration, home monitoring and augmented reality surgery. Prof. Loewenstein has published more than 400 papers in peer reviewed journals, and contributed multiple chapters to ophthalmology textbooks. She received multiple international awards in most prestigious societies, including the Michealson Award and Arnall Patz Medal from the Macula Society, the Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Rosario Brancato Retina Award. Prof. Loewenstein is Chair of the Israel Ministry of Health’s ethics committee and a member of the National Council of Surgery and anesthesia. She serves as Editor of the Journal Case Reports in Ophthalmology, as editorial board member of the Graefes Archives of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology and Investigative Ophthalmology of Visual Science, and reviewer for Ophthalmology, The American Journal of Ophthalmology, Graefes Archives of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology and Investigative Ophthalmology of Visual Science. She is General secretary of EURETINA, Israeli representative in the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE), Israeli representative), International Representative to the Macula Society Executive Board, The Macula Society (* since 2012- The International Representative to the Macula Society Executive Board), and Chair of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis.
