Business Wire02.06.20
TransEnterix Inc., a medical device company that is digitizing the interface between the surgeon and the patient to improve minimally invasive surgery, announced that Brett Farabaugh has joined as interim chief financial officer (CFO), replacing Joe Slattery who retired.
“We are very excited to have Brett join the TransEnterix team. He brings a wealth of experience providing financial leadership to high growth healthcare and technology companies,” said Anthony Fernando, TransEnterix president and CEO. “I believe Brett’s in depth knowledge of the medical device industry and his background of successfully guiding innovative companies will be very valuable during this critical period as we focus on taking the actions needed to implement changes in our commercial strategy that I believe will drive shareholder value.”
Farabaugh has served as CFO of Tryton Medical Inc., a developer of coronary stents based in Durham, N.C., since August 2008, and as CEO of Tryton Medical since August 2019. Prior to Tryton Medical, Farabaugh served as CFO of Strikeiron Inc., a high-growth information technology company, from 2006-2008, as vice president of Finance for Icoria Inc. (formerly Paradigm Genetics Inc.), a biotechnology company, from 2004-2006. Farabaugh also held various roles at Nuada Pharmaceuticals and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Farabaugh earned a bachelor of science degree in commerce with a concentration in accounting from the University of Virginia and is a licenced CPA.
Farabaugh's appointment was announced shortly before TransEnterix filed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) submission with an Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISUTM) (pending 510k) that is designed to enable machine vision capabilities on the Senhance Surgical System.
“TransEnterix is the first company to seek FDA clearance for machine vision technology in abdominal robotic surgery. Rather than simply passing a video signal to the surgeon, the Intelligent Surgical Unit for Senhance will initially have the ability to actually visualize the surgical field to guide movement and capture information,” said Fernando. “This technology advance is an important first step towards enabling augmented intelligence and we believe it will support continued machine vision driven advances in surgery performed with the Senhance Digital Laparoscopy Platform."
The initial features of the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) are designed to increase control in visualization beyond what has previously been available in digital laparoscopy or robotic surgery. The cleared Senhance System already features unique eye-tracking camera control and the new technology would enable machine vision driven control of the camera for a surgeon by responding to commands and recognizing certain objects and locations in the surgical field. The ISU hardware is also designed to be compatible with planned future augmented intelligence features such as scene cognition and surgical image analytics that are expected to continue to drive meaningful innovations in digital laparoscopy with Senhance.
“Many of us that perform and teach surgery firmly believe that the care of patients will be transformed by augmented intelligence and machine vision capabilities in the future,” said Dr. Amit Trivedi, chair of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center and a participant in the design and usability studies conducted in support of the 510(k) submission of the ISU. “Imagine if a computer could be the best assistant you’ve ever had in surgery by anticipating and moving a camera effortlessly to maximize control of the visual field. I’m very excited about this new addition to the Senhance System.”
This Intelligent Surgical Unit will be compatible with the global installed base of Senhance Surgical Systems, and will be compatible with third-party vision systems that are currently supported by Senhance.
“We are very excited to have Brett join the TransEnterix team. He brings a wealth of experience providing financial leadership to high growth healthcare and technology companies,” said Anthony Fernando, TransEnterix president and CEO. “I believe Brett’s in depth knowledge of the medical device industry and his background of successfully guiding innovative companies will be very valuable during this critical period as we focus on taking the actions needed to implement changes in our commercial strategy that I believe will drive shareholder value.”
Farabaugh has served as CFO of Tryton Medical Inc., a developer of coronary stents based in Durham, N.C., since August 2008, and as CEO of Tryton Medical since August 2019. Prior to Tryton Medical, Farabaugh served as CFO of Strikeiron Inc., a high-growth information technology company, from 2006-2008, as vice president of Finance for Icoria Inc. (formerly Paradigm Genetics Inc.), a biotechnology company, from 2004-2006. Farabaugh also held various roles at Nuada Pharmaceuticals and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Farabaugh earned a bachelor of science degree in commerce with a concentration in accounting from the University of Virginia and is a licenced CPA.
Farabaugh's appointment was announced shortly before TransEnterix filed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) submission with an Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISUTM) (pending 510k) that is designed to enable machine vision capabilities on the Senhance Surgical System.
“TransEnterix is the first company to seek FDA clearance for machine vision technology in abdominal robotic surgery. Rather than simply passing a video signal to the surgeon, the Intelligent Surgical Unit for Senhance will initially have the ability to actually visualize the surgical field to guide movement and capture information,” said Fernando. “This technology advance is an important first step towards enabling augmented intelligence and we believe it will support continued machine vision driven advances in surgery performed with the Senhance Digital Laparoscopy Platform."
The initial features of the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) are designed to increase control in visualization beyond what has previously been available in digital laparoscopy or robotic surgery. The cleared Senhance System already features unique eye-tracking camera control and the new technology would enable machine vision driven control of the camera for a surgeon by responding to commands and recognizing certain objects and locations in the surgical field. The ISU hardware is also designed to be compatible with planned future augmented intelligence features such as scene cognition and surgical image analytics that are expected to continue to drive meaningful innovations in digital laparoscopy with Senhance.
“Many of us that perform and teach surgery firmly believe that the care of patients will be transformed by augmented intelligence and machine vision capabilities in the future,” said Dr. Amit Trivedi, chair of surgery at Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center and a participant in the design and usability studies conducted in support of the 510(k) submission of the ISU. “Imagine if a computer could be the best assistant you’ve ever had in surgery by anticipating and moving a camera effortlessly to maximize control of the visual field. I’m very excited about this new addition to the Senhance System.”
This Intelligent Surgical Unit will be compatible with the global installed base of Senhance Surgical Systems, and will be compatible with third-party vision systems that are currently supported by Senhance.