City lands astronaut; Takes research role at Mac, St. Joe's

[SteelTown]

City lands astronaut Takes research role at Mac, St. Joe's

April 14, 2008
Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator

An internationally renowned Canadian astronaut has landed in Hamilton, The Spectator has learned.

Dr. Dafydd (Dave) Williams, 53, has been recruited as a physician scientist for McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare.

He will conduct research and work primarily out of a new, undefined, operation. The official announcement will be made this morning.

"It shows that the kind of hard work that's being done at Mac and in both of our hospital systems here in Hamilton is world-renowned," said Hamilton Centre New Democrat MPP Andrea Horwath.

Williams retired from active astronaut status March 1, after more than a decade at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

He holds the record for the most spacewalks on a single mission (three during a mission last summer) and the Canadian record for most time spent outside in space (17 hours, 47 minutes).

"It's been a great career of participating in the astronaut program," Williams recently told The Canadian Press. "Now I think it's time to transition to the next phase."

In 1992, the Canadian Space Agency chose Williams to train as an astronaut.

Three years later, he joined an international class at NASA, where he eventually became the first non-American to hold a senior management position within the organization in 1998.

He holds a master of science in physiology, a master of surgery and a doctorate of medicine.

Before becoming an astronaut, Williams worked at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and briefly in Kitchener-Waterloo. He's also been affiliated with the University of Toronto and McGill University in teaching capacities.

There's speculation Williams's research in Hamilton could have something to do with remote patient care. In 2004 and 2006, he took part in underwater experiments using remote surgical technologies and techniques. The crew was guided by Dr. Mehran Anvari, director of the Centre for Minimal Access Surgery, a McMaster centre located at St. Joe's.

[DC83]

^^ That's pretty exciting. Mac is definately the leader in changing the economy of this city. It's starting to attract scientists (CANMET), scholars and now ASTRONAUTS? haha Hopefully they all choose to live here and not just work here!

[SteelTown]

Canadian astronaut lands at McMaster

April 14, 2008

Dave Williams, a physician and astronaut who has logged a Canadian record of almost 18 hours performing space walks, is landing in the city as a physician scientist for McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

As the director for the new McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at St. Joseph's, he will lead a team dedicated to developing innovative technologies that will change the future of surgery in local and remote patient care. He is a professor in the Department of Surgery at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and holds a physician executive position at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

"Dr. Williams has had an extraordinary career, and he's been a great ambassador for Canada and for medical science -- both on and off the planet," said McMaster President Peter George. "His fearless dedication to finding new ways of bringing medical care to remote environments represents the most advanced edge of medicine under exploration these days."

Kevin Smith, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Healthcare said: "St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton has established a reputation as a leader in surgical innovation and medical research.

"The recruitment of Dr. Williams, an internationally-recognized physician and scientist, illustrates the leadership role we have cultivated in the development of state-of-the art medical robotics research and technologies."

Williams trained and worked as an emergency physician in Toronto and Kitchener before joining the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 1992 to become an astronaut. He has taken part on two NASA space shuttle flights, in 1998 and 2007, as a mission specialist and during the most recent took part in a record three space walks working on construction of the International Space Station.

He has held executive positions at NASA as director of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at Johnson Space Centre and the deputy associate administrator of the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters.

He also trained as an aquanaut, participating in two NASA missions to the world's only underwater research laboratory, called Aquarius, in the Florida Keys. He was the crew commander of a 2006 underwater mission dedicated to assessing new ways to deliver medical care to a remote location, and worked with Mehran Anvari, director of the McMaster Institute for Surgical Invention, Innovation and Education at St. Joseph's, who directed some of the research from Hamilton.

"I measure what I do in my career based on my ability to effect positive change," said Williams.

"As Director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at St. Joseph's Healthcare, I look forward to working with some of the leading scientists, physicians and engineers and contributing to the next generation of surgical robotics. I am confident that through our research we will improve the delivery of healthcare around the globe."

Besides the research focus of his new role, Williams will provide strategic guidance in physician leadership development and clinical resource management at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton with a focus on building innovative strategies for physician recruitment.

[highwater]

Originally Posted by DC83

^^ That's pretty exciting. Mac is definately the leader in changing the economy of this city. It's starting to attract scientists (CANMET), scholars and now ASTRONAUTS? haha Hopefully they all choose to live here and not just work here!

It's changing the [I]perception[I] of this city, but since it's a public agency paying significantly lower taxes than a private business, it's effect on the economy will be indirect at best. I just hope it will be enough to offset some of the down sides, such as the cost of the redesign of Main St. W, the extra policing and bylaw enforcement, the rerouting of buses off campus, the destabilizing of the unique, walkable neighbourhoods that surround it, not to mention the fact that they aren't fighting plans to put big box retail in the Innovation Park which will effectively put an end to any positive spin off effects that might have come from the MIP. With friends like these...

[SteelTown]

One giant step for Hamilton
Astronaut’s landing accelerates momentum of biotech sector

April 14, 2008
By Wade Hemsworth, The Hamilton Spectator

HAMILTON - Of all the places in the world that space traveller Dave Williams could have landed, he chose to set down in Hamilton.

The freshly retired astronaut — also a celebrated physician, researcher and scientist — believes this is the place where the next developments in the critical field of robotic surgery will be born and grow.

“We’re attempting to make the impossible possible,” he said at his official introduction Monday. “My dream today is to change the face of surgical care through the application of advanced robotic technology developed here in Hamilton.”

While his days in space may be over, Williams, 53, says he will always be an explorer, and his new frontier is here on the ground, finding new ways to make machines perform surgeries in ways humans alone can’t — from great distances and from across the room, with steadiness that no hand can match, and in ways that leave patients feeling better, sooner.

One day, those surgeries may even be performed entirely within the body itself.

Developing the technology in Hamilton, say the people who have brought Williams here to direct a joint McMaster University-St. Joseph’s Healthcare centre for robotic surgery, will generate considerable scientific, economic and educational benefits for a city that is embracing innovation, particularly in health care.

“I think it will play an integral role in the future development of Hamilton,” said McMaster president Peter George.

“To attract an individual of Dr. Williams’ calibre — as a scientist, a physician, a leader — to our city, is a testament to where Hamilton is, and where Hamilton is going,” said St. Joseph’s CEO Kevin Smith. “We see this as an opportunity to build the new economy of Hamilton: the economy of innovation and creativity.”

[SteelTown]

Hamilton offered Williams best of both worlds

April 15, 2008
Wade Hemsworth
The Hamilton Spectator

It wasn't long after Dave Williams set down from his final mission as a space-shuttle astronaut that he got a call from Hamilton.

On the line was Dr. Mehran Anvari, director of both the McMaster Institute for Surgical Invention, Innovation and Education, and of the Centre for Minimal Access surgery.

The two Canadians had worked together on robotic surgery for four years - most notably pairing up on a project that would see Anvari, in Hamilton, performing a remote procedure at a NASA undersea lab off the Florida Keys.

When he called this past autumn, Anvari knew Williams, his friend and collaborator, would be retiring as an astronaut in March.

He knew Williams was considering options from the world over.

He knew Williams was keenly interested in the surgical robotics work going on in Hamilton, where several critical elements converged: Canadian telecommunications technology, McMaster's progressive medical school with its ties to St. Joseph's Healthcare, and McMaster's engineering school with its own ties to robotics company MDA, developers of the Canadarm.

He also knew that after more than a decade of cross-continental commuting, Williams' family was eager to settle, preferably in Canada.

These were among the factors that landed the astronaut who could help change the face of surgery - a process started with Anvari's call.

Today, Williams and his family are settling in Oakville, halfway between his new job in Hamilton and Pearson Airport, the hub of his wife's work as an Air Canada pilot.

Though the announcement was made official yesterday, Williams has worked quietly with the McMaster-St. Joseph's team for weeks.

"He is going to have a multi-faceted impact: on the school of medicine, on McMaster University and on the community," said John Kelton, dean of McMaster's DeGroote School of Medicine, who was bowled over in his first meeting with Williams last autumn.

Robotic surgery, a concept whose technology is closely tied to space robotics, has been in development for about 15 years, and has already revolutionized fields such as prostate surgery, with procedures that are less invasive and allow patients to recover more quickly.

"We'll never be replacing the surgeon with robotics," Williams said. "What we're doing is enhancing the capability of the surgeon to perform surgical procedures with robotics."

The Hamilton team is concentrating on a new generation of robotic-surgery technology, and plans to reveal a new platform in the autumn.

The possibilities for robotic surgery are unknown, Anvari said, but the future likely includes microsurgery performed from within the body, and nanosurgery that would be conducted at the cellular level.

"It's a very exciting beginning. I can't see an end at the moment," he said. "Having someone with Dave's leadership skills just makes it seem so much more viable."