Joseph Nathan, MD, MSc is the Co-Founder, President and Chief Medical Officer at ForSight Robotics. Dr. Nathan has over 20 years of expertise in medical innovation. Beforehand, he directed healthcare commercialization on the Technion – Israel Institute of Expertise, and served as Director of New Ventures for the Technion’s Alfred Mann Institute, a $100M three way partnership incubating medical startups. Dr. Nathan earned a BSc in Biotechnology Engineering, MSc in Industrial Engineering, and MD, all from the Technion. Dr. Nathan additionally accomplished 3 years of ophthalmic surgical procedure residence at Rambam Hospital.
ForSight Robotics is pioneering developments in eye surgical procedure with a mission to enhance world entry to high-quality ophthalmic care. Thousands and thousands of individuals worldwide expertise poor imaginative and prescient and face limitations to glorious surgical remedy. ForSight Robotics goals to handle these challenges with ORYOM™, the primary hybrid intraocular robotic ophthalmic platform, designed to boost and develop the capabilities of ophthalmic surgical procedure on a world scale.
What impressed you to co-found ForSight Robotics, and the way did your background as each a doctor and engineer form the imaginative and prescient for the corporate?
Whereas finding out to be an engineer on the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Expertise, I used to be fascinated by the intricacies of multidisciplinary applied sciences and the way it can assist sufferers. After receiving my BSc and MSc in engineering, I pursued my MD diploma adopted by three years of residency in ophthalmic surgical procedure. Whereas in residency, I realized first-hand the excessive stage of precision required of surgeons to function successfully and the toll these extremely technical surgical procedures takes on surgeons. I additionally discovered that it took a long time to grasp the excessive stage of ability wanted to supply probably the most correct surgical care, and infrequently heard ophthalmic surgeons say that they “function like robots” as a result of repetitive nature of ophthalmic procedures, just like the removing of cataracts. In ophthalmology, precision and accuracy are essential to making sure secure surgical procedures. With my engineering background and expertise within the working room, I knew there was a greater solution to ship extra correct affected person care, guarantee higher outcomes, and ease surgeon burnout. Thus, the thought for ForSight Robotics was born.
I knew we would have liked a robust founding group to deliver this imaginative and prescient to life. I approached Professor Moshe Shoham, with whom I had labored throughout my time on the Technion and who had based the robotics laboratory at each the Technion and at Columbia. Because the founding father of Mazor Robotics, he brings a long time of technical information and expertise constructing superior techniques. We additionally partnered with robotics knowledgeable Daniel Glozman, PhD, who was one in all Prof. Shoham’s first college students, and collectively we based ForSight Robotics.
Why did you select ophthalmic surgical procedure as the main target for ForSight Robotics, and the way do you see robotics reworking this area within the subsequent decade?
Globally, at the very least 1.1 billion folks have preventable imaginative and prescient impairment, and inside this affected person group, cataracts are the main situation inflicting impairment or blindness in over 600 million sufferers. Over 30 million cataract surgical procedures are carried out yearly, making them the most typical process worldwide. Within the US, there are 32M sufferers in want of surgical procedure to handle cataracts, but solely 11K surgeons are educated on this area, leaving a large accessibility hole for sufferers in want of surgical care. Due to the worldwide market want and our profound robotics experience, we targeted on constructing our ORYOM™ Platform (Hebrew for daylight)—the primary robotic ophthalmic platform to deal with cataract and different widespread eye ailments—to handle this ongoing drawback, develop ophthalmic surgical procedure entry, and shut a rising surgical care hole.
Relating to transformation, the robotics trade is at an inflection level. AI and automation have accelerated the development of know-how, and public notion of medical robots is at an all-time excessive. We see sufferers looking for superior technological care, and surgeons preferring to make use of surgical robotics in different specialties – and there may be additionally excessive curiosity from ophthalmologists who need their area to “catch up” with the technological advances they see in different specialties which have already had robotic surgical procedure for years. Constructing on the rising momentum, ForSight has constructed an unbelievable group of technical specialists and buyers to assist us attain our highest potential. This consists of the latest addition of “the daddy of robotic surgical procedure,” Dr. Fred Moll (founding father of Intuitive Surgical), to our Board of Administrators, our ongoing assist from board advisor Rony Abovitz, founding father of MAKO, main ophthalmic surgeons that make up our Medical Advisory Board, and our VC companions. The sky is the restrict for the potential of medical robotics, and our imaginative and prescient is to harness the ability of robotics, AI, and automation to rework the surgical robotics area.
ForSight Robotics goals to “democratize entry to ophthalmic surgical procedures.” How do you outline success in reaching this purpose?
Finally, we can have reached our purpose when the demand for ophthalmic surgeons eases, and robotic surgical procedure is obtainable globally. To drive success, we’re targeted on three key metrics.
First, ophthalmic coaching time needs to be lowered, and the educational curve needs to be shortened. It takes at the very least 15 years for ophthalmic surgeons to realize peak surgical efficiency. That is too lengthy of a runway to handle the rising demand for cataract and different eye surgical procedures in growing older adults. With ForSight’s ORYOM™ Platform, surgeons can undertake the know-how in a number of periods and function with the platform shortly thereafter, thus considerably reducing the educational time.
Second, two-thirds of ophthalmic surgeons expertise bodily well being points attributable to poor ergonomics. Points equivalent to musculoskeletal, again, and neck ache result in 15% of eye surgeons retiring early. ForSight’s ORYOM™ Platform scales down a surgeon’s hand actions, rising accuracy and ergonomic consolation that decreases a surgeon’s cognitive and bodily stress and fatigue, thus rising their working profession.
Third, we goal to extend a supplier’s surgical throughput by 3 times. Proper now, a full cataract surgical procedure from begin to end takes round quarter-hour. Surgeons work across the clock within the working room to finish as many surgical procedures as potential in a given day to maximise their time within the working room. ForSight’s ORYOM™ Platform decreases the general process time, thus rising the variety of surgical procedures that may be accomplished in a single day and over time, rising the variety of instances that may be achieved.
Your know-how is described as providing “superhuman” precision and scalability. Are you able to clarify how AI and robotics allow this functionality in follow?
Our robotic surgical procedure platform enhances the working course of by using AI-based algorithms and micromechanics to ship micron-level precision. In the course of the process, the platform offers actionable insights to surgeons by embedded sensors, cameras, and kinematics to enhance total surgical method. ForSight’s ORYOM™ Platform is constructed with 14 levels of freedom to ship full entry for surgeons to succeed in each level with the human eye. Future iterations of the platform will enable for the efficiency of each anterior and posterior procedures, furthering ForSight’s imaginative and prescient and impression.
Robotics permits us to dial in on a particular motion and standardize it throughout all sufferers. By offering real-time 3D picture steering and augmentation of the procedures, surgeons can have a extra holistic view of the process and enhance their execution. Along with real-time analytics, we have scaled down the hand actions required for the process, lowered the hand tremors, and included no-fly zones to extend total surgical accuracy and precision.
What makes the ORYOM™ Platform distinctive in comparison with different robotic surgical procedure options presently out there?
The ORYOM™ Platform is the primary robotic ophthalmic platform for cataract and different widespread eye ailments, which offers vital benefits for each sufferers and surgeons. To deal with the bodily stress surgeons expertise throughout surgical procedure and forestall early retirement resulting from bodily points, we targeted on creating ergonomic options that tackle these stressors, together with display screen/desk positioning, how a surgeon handles the instruments, and built-in impartial positioning. We have additionally embedded haptic capabilities, together with vibrations, resistance, and different sensory elements, into the know-how for an enhanced surgical expertise.
Different distinctive options of the ORYOM™ Platform embrace decreasing the general process time, which allows practitioners to function on extra sufferers in a single day and carry out extra cataract surgical procedures over time. Moreover, to make sure mass adoption amongst surgeons, we have created a coaching program that enables practitioners to coach on the platform and function with the know-how with a considerably shorter studying curve, whereas sustaining excessive surgical accuracy.
How does ForSight Robotics plan to handle the disparity in entry to eye surgeons between prosperous and low-income nations?
As a world firm, we goal to develop ophthalmic surgical procedure for all. We’re focusing on the US market first as a result of, traditionally, know-how adopted within the US tends to result in success in different markets. On the identical time, we’re taking a look at nations equivalent to India, China, and the Center East that are investing of their healthcare techniques to beat the dearth of infrastructure. By focusing on these markets, we are able to develop entry and assets to nations which have larger populations needing care. Additional, by rising a present surgeon’s capability, we are able to develop entry to a larger inhabitants of sufferers.
With cataracts being a number one reason for blindness globally, what’s ForSight Robotics’ long-term imaginative and prescient for eradicating preventable blindness?
In creating the ORYOM™ Platform, our purpose is to develop and scale our robotic surgical procedure platform to succeed in extra practitioners and in flip, extra sufferers. The ORYOM™ Platform was developed from the bottom up, guaranteeing that our robotic techniques are constructed to succeed in each level throughout the eye. We’re starting by focusing on cataract, the most typical medical process with over 600M sufferers worldwide, after which search to develop to handle different eye ailments and deal with different procedures that demand excessive dexterity from surgeons. Sooner or later, we can even advance automation in robotic surgical procedure with a view to improve world entry to high quality surgical eye care.
What position do partnerships with hospitals and medical professionals play within the adoption of the ORYOM™ Platform?
Collaboration with hospitals, clinics, and practitioners allows us to supply one of the best surgical care to vision-impaired sufferers. This 12 months, Dr. Fred Moll, the founding father of Intuitive Surgical, joined our board of administrators to assist ForSight’s subsequent progress part, together with scaling the corporate globally. Working alongside Dr. Moll and our knowledgeable group, we’re constructing strategic partnerships throughout the healthcare system to supply vision-saving ophthalmic surgical procedure to sufferers.
As of February 2025, the ORYOM™ Platform has been optimized and validated by over two dozen surgeons who’ve efficiently carried out over 200 full robotic cataract procedures on an animal eye mannequin. We’re working intently with main ophthalmic surgeons worldwide to make sure that our know-how solutions surgeons’ wants.
What are your ideas on Nvidia’s and OpenAI’s latest developments in robotics, and the way would possibly these developments impression ForSight’s future?
It is an thrilling time to be a robotics founder. Current bulletins from Nvidia and OpenAI underscore how quickly AI is reworking robotics and rising funding throughout the trade. As robotic know-how advances, AI and automation will proceed to play a significant position in creating ForSight’s know-how, with the purpose of absolutely automating repetitive surgical duties sooner or later.
Nvidia’s robotics are educated utilizing massive open-source LLMs together with tens of millions of hours of simulations and real-world information. This can be a large leap ahead in coaching machines on perceived environments for driving and humanoids, permitting embodied AI to progress quicker. For surgical robotics, we are going to see an elevated use of AI to research massive quantities of real-world information whereas coaching future robotic techniques in simulated environments.
All of those developments profit the sphere of robotics as a complete, and can have a optimistic impression on the sphere of robotic surgical procedure as properly. The spectacular velocity at which these main firms are creating novel AI tech can have a internet optimistic impression on so many industries, and also will enhance our objectives of delivering more practical and safer surgical procedures, quicker.
Are you able to share any insights on how the combination of cognitive information analytics improves surgical outcomes with ORYOM™?
General, superior applied sciences which can be based mostly on massive information units and AI analytics can present surgeons with insights into their methods, and supply new and optimized approaches by figuring out patterns and understanding of the “massive image” that will not have been out there beforehand. Cognitive information analytics learns from massive information units with a view to present real-time steering – enhancing imaging suggestions and decision-making to enhance surgical precision. By analyzing real-time affected person information, AI-based algorithms can present the surgeon with patient-specific surgical optimization. This may enhance accuracy and cut back the danger of errors that may happen in handbook operations. As well as, pre- and post-op information evaluation can present tailor-made approaches for sufferers.
ForSight is engaged on finding out massive information units to enhance surgical precision with the ORYOM™ Platform. That is executed by real-time picture steering, which might present surgeons with a extra complete surgical image and smaller particulars that will have been missed, together with different information analytics strategies to enhance coaching and execution, thus enhancing each the affected person and surgeon expertise.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to ForSight Robotics.
