Abstract: The Dartmouth Center for Surgical Innovation (CSI) features two large operating rooms to accommodate multiple researchers and equipment. In this facility Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems can be moved into the operating rooms along ceiling-mounted motorized tracks. These diagnostic/surgical rooms can be used for nonsurgical or minimally invasive procedures and the study of how to implement them. Observation windows overlook the operating and diagnostic rooms so that researchers and students—from undergraduates to graduate and medical students—can watch the experimental development of surgery combined with imaging in ongoing cases. The CSI is the first such surgical facility primarily dedicated to translational research in the United States.  The CSI mitigates a major limitation for researchers: a lack of operating room time and space for the clinical studies on animals and humans that must be carried out before any new technique or technology becomes standard practice.

Bio: Keith D. Paulsen, Ph.D., is currently the Robert A. Pritzker Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth; Professor of Radiology and Surgery at the Geisel School of Medicine; Director of the Advanced Imaging Center and Scientific Director of the Center for Surgical Innovation at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center; Associate Director of Translational Programs for SYNERGY, Dartmouth’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science; Deputy Director of the Dartmouth Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, and Co-Director of the Cancer Imaging and Radiobiology Research Program at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Dr Paulsen is a Fellow of SPIE and an expert in biomedical imaging and computational modeling. His research has focused on the development and translation of advanced imaging technology, primarily for cancer detection, diagnosis, therapy monitoring and surgical guidance. He has authored more than 350 archival publications and has maintained an active research program, continuously funded by the NIH over the past 25 years.