Kurt Azarbarzin is a 39-year medtech industry veteran, having led the development of over 90 new products representing over $910 million of annual sales at companies including U.S. Surgical, Tyco Healthcare (now Medtronic), Spine Wave, Respimetrix, SurgiQuest, Verb Surgical, and J&J. He has experience in surgical, robotic, cardiovascular, interventional, orthopedic and urological markets. Kurt founded SurgiQuest in 2005 and sold it to CONMED, and the company's lead technology AirSeal became the standard of care for advanced laparoscopic and robotic surgery. He then became CEO of Verb Surgical (a joint venture between Google and J&J) consisting of over 550 employees, that was acquired by J&J in January 2020. After that, Kurt became and is currently the CEO of EndoQuest Robotics, which is developing the first flexible robotic surgical platform in the world, designed to enable endoluminal and single-incision surgery.

Neeraj Agrawal oversees Crescent Enterprises' operations and investments. He has supported the company's evolution and transformation throughout its years of expansion, by fostering new investments as well as nurturing its various established businesses within the fields of healthcare, ports and logistics, and power plant engineering and construction. In recent years he has been leading the venture capital investments in MENA and globally. In his capacity as a Board Member of the Crescent Group, Neeraj is responsible for finance & investment functions, building relationships with the investment & banking community and diverse stakeholders. His numerous achievements throughout his 35 years with the Group include management leadership and board oversight across various businesses globally. Neeraj was also instrumental in the successful formation and capitalization of Dana Gas PJSC (including a successful private placement and $80Billion IPO), the US$1.2Billion acquisition and financing of TSX listed Centurion Energy International Inc., and the Middle East's first forward-looking accelerated US$1Billion capital markets instrument. More recently, Neeraj has been instrumental in securing roughly $800Million international financing for development of gas resources through a regional bank facility, EPC contractor and US Development Finance Corporation under long term agreements.

Cary McNair is CEO of McNair Interests, a private investment and management company headquartered in Houston, Texas that is focused on transformative real estate projects, breakthrough medical discoveries and disciplined investments. He is responsible for the corporate strategy that guides business operations and the company's investment portfolio including the acquisition and development of high-yield assets. McNair leads a formidable team of executives and professional staff in accelerating business growth and value. Cary serves as chairman of the board of Invectys Inc. and a director of EndoQuest Robotics Inc. and Xcath Inc. He previously served as a director of Xeris Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Goodwill Industries of Houston.

Mr. McNair earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Fonseca is an Investment Director in the Crescent Group Investments Team and the Chief Corporate Development Officer of Gulftainer USA. In addition to his role with Crescent Group, Mr. Fonseca is also a member of the Board of Directors for XCath Inc., and HomeWork Mx. Prior to joining Crescent Group, Mr. Fonseca was the first Panamanian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and to Saudi Arabia. Prior to this role, and as part of his diplomatic duties, Mr. Fonseca worked with private and sovereign Institutional Investors.

Mr. Fonseca holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BS from Santa Clara University. He is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Dr. Patel completed his medical school education at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, and then his residency and fellowship training at the University of Miami in Florida. Subsequently, Dr. Patel served as Director of the Robotic Surgery Program at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, prior to joining Advent Health in Celebration, FL.

Dr. Patel is board certified by the American Urological Association and is the Medical Director of the Global Robotics Institute at Advent Health Celebration and Medical Director of the Advent Health Cancer Institute Urologic Oncology Program. He is a professor of Urology at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida, and a clinical associate professor of Urology at Nova Southeastern University, also in Orlando. He serves as an honorary professor at the University of Milan, Korea University and Ricardo Palma University in Lima, Peru, and was recently made an honorary professor of the Russian Academy of Science.

He is the founder of the International Prostate Cancer Foundation (IPCF) and a founding member of the Society of Robotic Surgery. He is the Executive Director of the Society of Robotic Surgery that hosted 10,000 surgeons in 2020. Past president of the Florida Urologic Society. He is the editor emeritus of The Journal of Robotic Surgery and editor of the first-ever robotic urology textbook.

He leads the world's most experienced robotic surgery team and travels globally to educate physicians and care for patients. Dr. Patel is world-renowned for his contribution to the field of robotic surgery and prostate cancer. Dr. Patel is the most experienced robotic surgeon in the world and has personally performed over 16,000 robotic prostatectomies for the treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Patel has developed techniques in robotic surgery that have translated to improve patient care and outcomes. His innovations have helped to improve cancer treatment and return of early urinary continence and sexual function. His contributions have been recognized worldwide through publications, professorships and training courses. He has traveled the globe lecturing and teaching. He has educated thousands of surgeons in robotic surgical techniques and has started robotic surgery programs or performed surgery throughout the United States and in countries, including India, China, England, Sweden, Belgium, Turkey, Australia and South Korea.

Jacques Marescaux is Professor of Surgery, Founder and Member of the Board of the Institute of Image-Guided Surgery (IHU Strasbourg) and President and Founder of IRCAD (1994) a uniquely structured institute advancing the field of surgery into the information era. In addition, he founded the European Institute for Telesurgery (EITS) as a training facility to disseminate the groundbreaking work at IRCAD. Over the last 27 years this center has gained international acclaim by training more than 45,000 surgeons from 124 countries, with 5 additional mirror IRCAD institutes created around the world in Taiwan (2008) and Brazil (Sao Paulo 2011, Rio de Janeiro 2017), Beirut (Lebanon 2019), Kigali (Rwanda 2023). Two additional IRCAD Institutes will be created in 2024, one in Wuxi, near Shanghai, China and the second in the United States in Charlotte.

In 2001, Professor Marescaux performed the first transcontinental laparoscopic surgery on a patient in Strasbourg, France while being in New York; this is known as “Operation Lindbergh” (Nature 2001;413:379-380 – Annals of Surgery 2002;235:487-492). On April 2, 2007, he is believed to be the first in the world to operate a patient without leaving a scar (Archives of Surgery 2007;142:823-826).

Jacques Marescaux and his team published up to 4,800 national and international articles. He has received honorary degrees from a number of Universities and honorary fellowships at the Royal College of Surgeons in London and the Japanese society of endoscopic surgery, and is member of a range of Editorial Boards. He was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1999), Officier dans l'Ordre national du Mérite (2007), Officier de la Légion d'honneur (2012) and Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur (2019).

Jacques Marescaux was invited to deliver more than 450 speeches in many European, American, Japanese, and Chinese Universities or Schools of Medicine, amongst which the "Address to Diplomates" he gave at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, the Nobel Lecture he gave in Stockholm, and the Fogarty Lecture he gave at Stanford University.

Dr. Thompson is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Director of Endoscopy and Co-Director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), is Principal Investigator of the Developmental Endoscopy Lab and serves on the HMS admissions committee. He operates on the Governing Board of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), and is Editor-in-Chief for iGIE, the society's new open access journal.

Dr. Thompson's academic and clinical efforts have consistently focused on three main areas: (1) obesity and metabolic disease, (2) development of new endosurgical procedures and technologies, and (3) endoscopic training and assessment. He has invented numerous procedures, including Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG), Transoral Outlet Reduction (TORe), and Gastroplasty with Endoscopic Myotomy (GEM), and he has led several US pivotal trials. These projects have resulted in substantial Department of Defense and societal funding, numerous patents, the development and licensing of new technologies, over 250 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of over 60, various innovation awards, and five successful start-up companies. He has served on advisory boards for industry partners, insurance companies, and investment banks, and has co-founded several societal ventures, including the Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research (NOSCAR) and the Association for Bariatric Endoscopy (ABE). He has also mentored a diverse group of trainees who have gone on to leadership roles in major US and international academic centers, with one becoming a White House Fellow and, another, Chief Medical Officer for a Fortune 500 medical device company. Dr. Thompson recently had the honor of receiving the ASGE's highest mentoring award, the Distinguished Endoscopic Research Mentoring Award. He also has been credited with being the founding father of the field of Bariatric Endoscopy, among other accolades.

Clinically, Dr. Thompson reorganized and expanded the interventional endoscopy service at BWH to become one of the only units in the US to offer all available endoscopic therapies, and the only US center with World Endoscopy Organization (WEO) Center of Excellence Status.

In summary, Dr. Thompson's body of work comprises of procedure and technology development, academic publications, start-up companies, training and mentoring, societal leadership roles, and clinical program development. These accomplishments have touched many lives across the US and internationally, and he has numerous active programs that hold promise for years to come.

Santiago Horgan, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in esophageal disease, weight-loss surgery, minimally invasive surgery and new technologies and approaches for surgery. He performs a variety of weight-loss procedures including gastric sleeve, gastric plication, gastric bypass, and revisional weight-loss surgeries.

Dr. Horgan has expertise in minimally invasive surgical techniques, providing patients with a faster recovery time and less scarring than open surgical methods. He is skilled in the use of surgical robotics, which enables surgeons to perform complex and delicate procedures through small incisions. He is also a pioneer in the field of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), in which surgical instruments are passed through a natural orifice such as the mouth to reach the desired organ.

As the director of the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Horgan is working with colleagues to investigate, develop, test and teach procedures that are revolutionizing the field of surgery. Dr. Horgan trains surgeons during their fellowship as well as established surgeons from medical centers across the country on minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Before joining the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine in 2006, Dr. Horgan was director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotic Surgery Department and co-director of the Swallowing Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was also director of the Minimally Invasive Bariatric Center in Chicago. Dr. Horgan completed his fellowship at University of Washington School of Medicine and his residency at University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine in Argentina, where he also received his medical degree.

Dr. Patel completed his medical school education at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, and then his residency and fellowship training at the University of Miami in Florida. Subsequently, Dr. Patel served as Director of the Robotic Surgery Program at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, prior to joining Advent Health in Celebration, FL.

Dr. Patel is board certified by the American Urological Association and is the Medical Director of the Global Robotics Institute at Advent Health Celebration and Medical Director of the Advent Health Cancer Institute Urologic Oncology Program. He is a professor of Urology at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine in Orlando, Florida, and a clinical associate professor of Urology at Nova Southeastern University, also in Orlando. He serves as an honorary professor at the University of Milan, Korea University and Ricardo Palma University in Lima, Peru, and was recently made an honorary professor of the Russian Academy of Science.

He is the founder of the International Prostate Cancer Foundation (IPCF) and a founding member of the Society of Robotic Surgery. He is the Executive Director of the Society of Robotic Surgery that hosted 10,000 surgeons in 2020. Past president of the Florida Urologic Society. He is the editor emeritus of The Journal of Robotic Surgery and editor of the first-ever robotic urology textbook.

He leads the world's most experienced robotic surgery team and travels globally to educate physicians and care for patients. Dr. Patel is world-renowned for his contribution to the field of robotic surgery and prostate cancer. Dr. Patel is the most experienced robotic surgeon in the world and has personally performed over 16,000 robotic prostatectomies for the treatment of prostate cancer. Dr. Patel has developed techniques in robotic surgery that have translated to improve patient care and outcomes. His innovations have helped to improve cancer treatment and return of early urinary continence and sexual function. His contributions have been recognized worldwide through publications, professorships and training courses. He has traveled the globe lecturing and teaching. He has educated thousands of surgeons in robotic surgical techniques and has started robotic surgery programs or performed surgery throughout the United States and in countries, including India, China, England, Sweden, Belgium, Turkey, Australia and South Korea.

Dr. Hiroyuki Aihara is currently the Director of Endoscopic Tissue Resection in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He received his M.D. degree from Jichi Medical School in Tochigi, Japan, in 1998 and received his Ph.D. degree in Gastroenterology from Jikei University School of Medicine in 2011. Dr. Aihara has over 100 peer-reviewed publications. His research focuses on the minimally invasive endoscopic treatment of gastrointestinal tumors. Dr. Aihara has clinical interests in endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD), Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (EMR), Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM), Submucosal Tunneling Endoscopic Resection (STER), and Image-enhanced Endoscopy (IEE).

Eduardo Parra-Davila, MD, is a surgeon and pioneer in the field of robotic surgery. In his career, he has built a worldwide reputation for his excellent performance and expertise. Dr. Parra-Davila earned his medical degree from Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela) and is a Board Certified General and Colorectal Surgeon. He trained at the University of Miami (Miami, Florida) as a General Surgery Resident and completed his postgraduate studies in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Texas (Houston, Texas), as well as a Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship at the Texas EndoSurgery Institute (San Antonio, Texas). Dr. Parra-Davila trained thousands of surgeons worldwide in laparoscopic and robotic techniques and started many robotic programs in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Dr. Parra-Davila is the founder and board member of two major robotic societies: Clinical Robotic Surgical Association and Society of Robotic Surgery. He was part of a group that supervised and created robotic programs in Brazil for United Health Care at their hospitals for three consecutive years in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Fortaleza, performing over 2,000 surgeries. He serves as a consultant and is on the advisory board for United Health Care in Brazil for Americas Medical City. He has given hundreds of lectures and performed surgery around the world (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, China, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel, Korea, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain and Venezuela). Dr. Parra-Davila has served as governor for the American Hernia Society for three years and an editorial reviewer for The Journal of Robotic Surgery. Dr. Parra-Davila’s practice attends patients with general, colorectal, obesity and hernia/abdominal wall diseases with all degrees of complexity.

Dr. S. Perretta is an upper gastro-intestinal surgeon, Professor of Surgery, Chief of Foregut and Advanced Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Division. She also serves as the Vice president of IRCAD France and Director of IHU education and Surgical Endoscopy fellowship program. Her fields of interest are upper gastro-intestinal surgery, gastro-intestinal physiology, bariatric surgery, interventional endoscopy, surgical education and innovation. Dr. Perretta has been a pioneer in Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) and has been actively developing endoscopic platforms, flexible robotics and endoscopic simulators. She has authored 146 peer-reviewed publications, has an h-index of 41, and holds 9 patents. She was named Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor on January 1, 2021 and recently elected Chair of the EAES Flexible Endoscopy committee, advisor for the American College of Surgeon Committee on Emerging Surgical Technologies and Education (CESTE) and of the AMEE (International Association for Medical Education) Surgery Track Steering Committee.

Dr. Estape is currently director of the HCA Florida Institute for Gynecologic Oncology. He has practiced in the South Florida area for over 20 years and was past director of the gynecologic oncology site group at the University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center, founder and past director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Miami Cancer Institute and has started and headed up multiple robotic programs at South Miami Hospital, Baptist Health South Florida, Larkin Hospital and now in the HCA system throughout South Florida. He has been a pioneer in robotic surgery since 2004 and has done more robotic gynecologic procedures than any other surgeon in the world. He is currently over 8000 cases as primary surgeon and many more as assistant or teaching surgeon. He has worked with multiple companies to develop robotic platforms including multi-port robotics, single-port robotics, single-site robotics, endoluminal robotics and now transvaginal robotics as well. With his background in electrical engineering and biomedical engineering, he has been an integral part of the development of multiple robotic platforms and continues to be a pioneer in robotics and in minimally invasive surgery.

Dr. Jihad Kaouk is an internationally recognized American board-certified urologist with focus on robotic surgery and innovations. He is the director of the Center of Robotic and Image-Guided Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute and Vice chair of enterprise surgical operations. He is a Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and chair holder for the Zegarac-Pollock Endowed Chair in laparoscopic and robotic surgery. He co-authored 620 peer-reviewed publications with a current H-Index of 101 and more that 40,800 citations.

In innovations, he has performed several First-In-Human surgical procedures, including the first robotic single-port (SP) surgery through the belly button (2008), first completely transvaginal kidney removal (2009) and first robotic perineal prostatectomy (2014). Dr. Kaouk was the pioneer in the implementation of the SP robot into the urologic field in 2018. He performed the first in human SP extraperitoneal, perineal, and transvesical robotic prostatectomy procedures, SP extraperitoneal kidney transplantation, and partial nephrectomy. Dr. Kaouk holds 6 USA patents for medical devices and is the co-founder and chief medical officer of Method Surgical AI. Dr Kaouk was chairman of the AUA New Technology and Imaging committee and is the past president of the Society of Urologic Robotic Surgery (SURS). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Urology Video Journal.