Surgical Artificial Intelligence Research Academy (SARA)

Our laboratory includes a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, engineers, computer scientists, artificial intelligence scientists, game developers, and educational psychologists. The aim of our research program is to develop and validate new technologies and methodologies to improve surgical performance. Examples include computer vision deep learning models that are capable of identifying surgical anatomy and augment surgeons’ mental model, telestration tools for live on-site and remote telecoaching, intra-operative navigation and post-operative video analysis, the use of haptic devices and machine learning for performance assessment, and video games for team-training. We collaborate with various groups both within the University of Toronto community and internationally, including throughout Europe, Asia, North America and South America. We also collaborate with multiple different surgical subspecialties to bring surgical data science expertise.

SARA is embedded within the Temerty Advanced Surgical Education & Simulation Centre at UHN, a fully-renovated 13,500 sq. ft. state-of-the-art center for surgical training and innovation at the Michener Institute of Education. The center features a fully functional operating room simulation lab, a multipurpose wet lab, various skills laboratories, and workspace for researchers and staff to conduct experiments and courses.