Welcome to the Surgical Innovation Program in the Department of Surgery at NYU Langone. This program is at the forefront of facilitating innovative thinking and promoting unique opportunities to advance and develop new surgical techniques and technologies. We strive to improve outcomes through innovative and tangible improvements in surgical care, ensuring longer, healthier lives for our patients.

Our Mission

Our mission is to cultivate a culture of innovation among Department of Surgery faculty and trainees, equipping them with the unique mindset and skills to bring groundbreaking ideas to fruition. The goals of our program are to:

• advise and mentor
• highlight and promote
• educate
• foster a community of collaboration

Our program is led by Insoo Suh, MD, associate vice chair of innovation and an expert in scarless thyroidectomy, and Robert Montgomery, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Surgery, who has conducted groundbreaking xenotransplantation work. Learn more about our program leadership.

Surgical Innovation Program Education

The Surgical Innovation Program is grounded in its mission to educate faculty and trainees and provide them with the resources and mentorship necessary to transform ideas into medical device innovations. Program leadership serves as a team of mentors to anyone interested in discussing their project ideas or needing connections in the surgical innovation sphere. In addition, we have a quarterly surgical innovation didactics curriculum for surgical trainees.

NYU Langone–Deerfield Catalyst Internship

Deerfield Catalyst (DFC) is a medical technology incubator and subsidiary of Deerfield Management, a large healthcare investment fund in New York City with more than $14 billion under management. Led by Howard Levin and Mark Gelfand, DFC and its former entity, Coridea, have been responsible for some of the largest and most successful medical device advancements during the past two decades. We have an educational partnership with DFC in the form of an NYU Langone–DFC joint internship, which is open to our trainees who are interested in a hands-on education in biodesign innovation from an industry perspective.

Tech4Health Institute Opportunities

Our program partners with Tech4Health Institute for initial ideation and prototyping phases of development for new devices and technologies. Tech4Health offers internships to students and trainees looking for an intensive focused opportunity in device design and engineering.

Partners and Resources

The Surgical Innovation Program has built a collaborative community of partners that serve as valuable resources for faculty and trainees looking to address unmet clinical needs through a medical technology lens:

• NYU Technology Opportunities and Ventures
• Tech4Health Institute
• NYU Tandon School of Engineering Future Labs

Contact Us

For more information or ways to get involved in the Surgical Innovation Program, contact Dr. Suh at Insoo.Suh@NYULangone.org or Ariana Akkaya, program project manager, at Ariana.Akkaya@NYULangone.org.