Skip to main content

‘ViSE’

How a graduate school “midlife crisis” inspired a breakthrough surgical device

Feb. 28, 2023—By Lucas Johnson When Robert J. Webster III was working on an engineering project for his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University, he was struck with an unnerving thought: The technology he was helping create seemed interesting, but it wouldn’t reach patients for at least 20 years. “And that’s only if everything went well,” he recalls....

Read more


MEDLab’s perennial engineering class for college-bound girls earns praise

Feb. 28, 2023—A hands-on interactive class designed by graduate students in the Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab (MEDLab) for high school students drew enthusiastic reviews from a Nashville college-preparatory school group. Sessions included introduction to engineering and STEM, computer aided design, robotics and coding, bioinspired design, and a civil engineering module on structure design. The three-week class, Structures,...

Read more


Team of Vanderbilt experts selected to develop low-cost training tools aimed at expanding global access to minimally invasive surgeries

Feb. 7, 2023—Project will be led by Mechanical Engineering Professor Nabil Simaan, a globally renowned expert in robotic surgery A multidisciplinary team from the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to develop a low-cost simulation tool to train medical personnel in Kenya to perform minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures. The project will...

Read more


Automated Instrument Tracking Enhances Ophthalmic Surgery

Dec. 19, 2022—Technology driven by deep-learning model delivers 4D video-rate imaging, improves precision A multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has advanced its work to develop new tools for intraoperative imaging during ophthalmic surgery. The team recently presented a novel, automated instrument tracking method that leverages multimodal imaging and deep learning to...

Read more


Two Vanderbilt faculty win ‘TIME’ Best Inventions of 2022

Dec. 5, 2022—Two Vanderbilt faculty who conducted translational research have received the distinction of Best Invention of 2022 from TIME magazine. TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 Cover “These winning innovations exemplify the transformative potential of university research when it aims to solve society’s most urgent problems, and when universities partner with the broader innovation ecosystem to bring...

Read more


Notable neuroscientist is keynote speaker for Vanderbilt’s 11th annual surgery and engineering symposium

Nov. 28, 2022—The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering is taking advantage of a five-day annual meeting in Nashville of the American Epilepsy Society by inviting two notable doctors to the VISE December seminar and symposium series. Dr. Martha Morell will deliver the Dec. 7 keynote address during the VISE 11th Annual Surgery, Intervention, and Engineering Symposium,...

Read more


Rock-climbing student duo pursues scientific, business and Olympic dreams

Apr. 25, 2022—by Amy Wolf Strategically managing precise steps up a wall or cliff at breakneck speeds is exactly where Michael Finn-Henry, a mechanical engineering student and contender for the 2024 Paris Olympics, finds clarity. Speed rock climbing is a finesse sport that requires fast feet and an even faster brain. Michael Finn-Henry trains with the Vanderbilt Climbing...

Read more


Advisory Board established for ESI program

Mar. 5, 2022—A distinguished advisory board has been established for the Master of Engineering in Surgery and Intervention program, a novel professional degree designed to enhance training in the development of platform technologies used in procedural medicine. The ESI program, which admitted its first students in fall 2021, offers unparalleled exposure to clinical domains and equips engineers...

Read more