Dr. Pieter De Backer (Ghent, BE) is this year’s winner of the Prize for Robotic Urology Science (PRUS), presented to him by Prof. Henk Van Der Poel on behalf of the ERUS board. The Prize for Robotic Urology Science is given to someone who has made significant scientific contributions to the research and science of robotic urology.
Prof. Van Der Poel praised De Backer’s research in video and AI applications specifically. “We need to digitize the entire surgical process and collect and process all available data in order to make the best decisions. AI is still in its infancy and guiding its applications in urology is something that Pieter is doing great, innovative scientific work on at Orsi.”
Dr. Pieter De Backer is a Belgian engineer-turned-physician who leads the Orsi Innotech and Surgical Al activities at ORSI Academy, where he develops Al, augmented-reality and patient-specific 3D modelling tools to improve minimally-invasive and robotic surgery. He first trained as an electromechanical and biomedical engineer, subsequently obtained his medical degree and completed PhD work on Al in robotic surgery; he is also completing surgical (urology) residency training.
Upon receiving the award, Dr. De Backer made use of his time on stage as a call to action for AI: “We are facing the need for good benchmarks to validate surgical technology. With ERUS, we can build such benchmarks and I would love to discuss this with all of you.”
Dr. De Backer joins the inaugural winner in 2024, Prof. Francesco Porpiglia (Turin, IT), who was honoured for this pioneering work in image-guided surgery. He was also instrumental in developing new techniques in nerve growth factors for enhanced erectile function recovery.
