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HOSPITAL SPOTLIGHT PARMA HOSPITAL OPENS ROBOTIC SURGERY CENTER, RECRUITS TOP DOC AS DIRECTOR W HEN PARMA COMMUNITY General Hospital decided to install a robotic operat- ing suite to expand its minimally invasive surgery center, they had two goals in mind: first, to equip it with the most advanced technology, and second, to bring in one of the top surgeons in the country to direct it. In November, when the new Center for Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery opened, it was obvious that the hospital had achieved its goals. Equipped with Intuitive Surgical's latest system — the da Vinci Si — and directed by nationally recognized endourologic, minimally- invasive and robotic surgeon Carson Wong, MD, the new Center can be con- sidered among the best. "Robotic surgical systems have been around for quite some time," says Dr. Wong, who is a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC). "What is unique about our robotic system is that it is the latest model of the da Vinci Surgical Platform installed in a fully integrated 3D HD (high defini- tion) operating suite that includes fluorescence imaging capabilities. ORs like this are found only in a handful of major institutions nationwide." Carson Wong, MD, FACS, FRCSC, is director of Parma Community General Hospital's new Center for Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery. Dr. Wong is a nationally recognized endourologic, minimally-invasive and robotic surgeon. About Dr. Wong Prior to joining Parma Hospital's medi- cal staff, Dr. Wong served as medical director of the Center for Robotic Surgery at Oklahoma University Medical Center, in Oklahoma City, and associate professor in the Department of Urology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He specializes in the treatment of urologic cancers and stone disease, upper urinary tract reconstruction and laser surgery for benign prostate hyper- plasia (BPH). A researcher as well as a clinician, Dr. Wong has to his credit more than 300 national and international presentations and 55 peer-reviewed journal articles, including numerous ar t icles on GreenLight HPS laser photoselective vaporization prostatectomy. In addition, he is a reviewer for ten professional journals, including Journal of Urology, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Canadian Urological Association Journal, British Journal of Urology and Journal of Endourology, and is an active member of nine national and international profes- sional medical associations. His reason for relocating to Cleveland from Oklahoma City, he says, was "to deliver the level of care one would expect from a large academic medical center, in a more personalized community setting." The da Vinci Si Surgical robots take minimally invasive surgery to a new level. Guided by the surgeon from a control console in the operating room, the robotic 28 | Cleveland-Akron-Canton MD NEWS n MDNEWS.COM n MARCH-APRIL 2012