Speaker on rise of the health bots
Media Advisory
University of Auckland
13 October 2014
Speaker on rise of the health bots
An expert on surgical robotics and innovation will be visiting from the United States this month.
Ex-patriot Kiwi, Dr Catherine Mohr is a University of Auckland Hood Fellow, and will be giving several lectures on
campus.
Surgery has changed rapidly in the last 10 years with the advent of surgical robots and the increase in minimally
invasive surgical techniques.
Dr Mohr will talk about these changes in surgical practice, the technologies that underlie them, and what we might see
in the future as new technologies such as earlier diagnostics, advanced imaging and regenerative medicine bring
disruptive changes to healthcare around the world.
This year’s ‘World Class New Zealand Award’ winner, Dr Mohr is Vice President of Medical Research at Intuitive Surgical,
where she evaluates new technologies for incorporation into the next generation of surgical robots.
She is also a consulting Assistant Professor in the department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine and on the
Medicine and Robotics Faculty at Singularity University.
She has published numerous scientific papers, is the recipient of multiple awards and a frequent speaker at national and
international conferences.
In an academic seminar at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Dr Mohr will talk on ‘When Healthcare becomes
Invisible’, and will discuss the history of society’s views of health care, looking ahead 25 years to see where we might
be going with the advent of regenerative medicine, genomics and direct gene manipulation.
Dr Mohr will also talk about her work modelling healthcare out into the future with such groups as the World Economic
Forum and Accenture.
Dr Mohr received her BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, and her MD from Stanford University School of
Medicine. She serves as scientific advisor to several start-up companies in Silicon Valley as well as government
technology development programmes and start-ups in her native New Zealand.
Her public lecture, on ‘The rise of the Bots: Robots, Surgeons and Disruptive Technology’ is on Wednesday 22 October at 6.30pm, at the University of Auckland’s Fisher and Paykel Appliances Auditorium, in the
Owen G Glenn Building at the City Campus.
Her academic seminar for the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences is on Wednesday 15 October from 12 to 1pm at the
Grafton Campus.
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Dr Catherine Mohr was born in Dunedin, but left with her parents for the USA at age two. She grew up in Boston and has
mostly worked in California, but has always retained her New Zealand citizenship and strong connection to this country.
Her website is http://www.catherinemohr.com/
ENDS