Earlier this year, I had the unique opportunity to deliver a keynote lecture about the #FutureOfSurgery at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) annual conference. sages.org/video/2026-karl-st… Since then many people have reached out for more information & so I’m delighted to share that my thesis “The Digital Scalpel: Navigating the Future of Surgical Innovation” is now published in the journal of Surgical Endoscopy. link.springer.com/epdf/10.10… The work looks at where surgery is heading as robotics, AI, augmented reality, sensors and increasingly intelligent medical devices become part of everyday practice. The central argument is a simple one: the future of surgery will not be defined by technology replacing surgeons, but by how well we learn to use technology to extend human capability — better vision, better information and, ultimately, better decisions for patients.

What is the Future of the Medical History? As medicine evolved, we added new elements when they became essential to understanding and safely treating the patient: past surgical history, medication and allergy lists, family history, social history etc The structure of the medical history has always reflected what matters most in clinical care. It may now need to evolve again. Modern patients increasingly depend on programmable and connected medical devices—including pacemakers, insulin pumps, neurostimulators and remote-monitoring technologies. Yet these devices are often recorded inconsistently across medical records As medicine becomes increasingly technology-enabled, accurately documenting the devices that sustain and support our patients is becoming as important as recording their medications. Leading EHR platforms already support elements of this. @HeyEpic, @OracleHealth and @MEDITECH provide varying forms of implant and device documentation. The next step is to evolve these capabilities into comprehensive, longitudinal medical device history—covering implanted, wearable and connected devices, together with their settings, dependencies, responsible clinical teams and follow-up requirements. Read the full article here: sciencedirect.com/science/ar…

The Fulbright Programme remains one of the great bridges between Ireland and the United States 🇮🇪 🇺🇸 At its heart, Fulbright is not simply a scholarship programme. It is a relationship-builder — connecting people, ideas, institutions and countries through education, research, culture and public service. Honoured to celebrate this year’s Fulbright Scholars and Dr Michael J. Ryan, recipient of the 2026 Fulbright Ireland Public Service Award 🩺

Every generation of clinicians inherits the tools of the last and is asked to develop the ones that come next to improve patient care. At the @HIVE_LAB we are building digital health solutions to clinical problems. That was the spirit of the Karl Storz Keynote Lecture I delivered at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) 2026 Annual Meeting — "The Digital Scalpel: Navigating the Future of Surgical Innovation." The lecture lays out the Digital Scalpel Stack: a five-layer model of AI-enabled surgical practice, from the data layer at the base to human judgment at the apex. The case I make is that integrating AI into the operating room isn't a technology upgrade. It demands a reconceptualisation of surgical identity, new governance for human–machine decisions, and data literacy recognised as a core surgical competency. It also confronts three risks we don't talk about enough: automation complacency, the accountability gap when an algorithm and a surgeon disagree, and the digital inverse care law, the danger that these tools widen access gaps instead of closing them. The full recording is now online: 👉 sages.org/video/2026-karl-st…

Digital Health meets Global Health 💻 🩺 A great catchup & coffee with the amazing Dr Mike Ryan 🌍 nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NE…

The word #research is from the French recherche meaning to seek out or explore, which most of us usually do indoors. Over the years many of my colleagues have encouraged me to try it outdoors! “Do field research,” they said “It’ll be exciting,” they said They weren’t wrong! A long way from the library & lab to the Atlantic Ocean to do our healthcare research on the Irish Islands, to ensure we put the right pathways & technology in place, to build better access to clinical care 🩺

We are excited to be working with Boston Scientific, EireComposites and OpenText through our University of Galway DTIF project #DigiStent to explore the use of our innovative platform technology in structural heart disease #DigiValve ❤️ 💻 🩺

I am honored to receive the Outstanding International Clinician Award from the American College of Endocrinology. Thanks to all my patients & peers for inspiring me to be better every day Ancora Imparo

A beautiful day in Galway to take the dog for a walk! ☀️ Our University of Galway ☘️ @HIVE_LAB humanoid robot #Deckard gave us a glimpse of the future where sights like these will become more common as machines leave the lab & interact with our physical environments 🤖 🐕

Thanks to our @HIVE_LAB team for their health promotion #STEM outreach work on #TotalFootball kids TV show, coming to your screens during the upcoming World Cup in June 📺🤖⚽️ 🥅

Honoured to be invited to deliver the prestigious KARL STORZ keynote lecture at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) annual meeting. I outlined a roadmap for the future of surgical care using my Digital Scalpel framework, which demonstrated how we can bridge the gap between human wisdom and machine intelligence, to improve human health 🩺 Lecture will be made available soon on sages.org/

In the comic books superman was just a normal person called Kal El who lived on a planet called Krypton. However when he came to planet Earth & experienced our yellow sun & lower gravity - he became Superman! Interdisciplinary cross pollination works the same way. So I was delighted to join Dr Charles Bruce at the @MayoClinic for their innovative podcast series, "Lessons from a Mayo Inventor." We had a deep dive into the future of healthcare innovation & leadership, the importance of an an interdisciplinary skillset and how we all must develop high agency to bridge the gap between new ideas & patient impact. Collaborative spaces like the Mayo Clinic Berg Innovation Exchange are where the next generation of medical breakthroughs are born. Stay tuned for the episode! 🎧

As emails go, this is a good one! 📧 Incredibly honored to be named the recipient of the AACE Outstanding International Clinician Award. Thanks to my patients & peers who inspire me to be better every day. Thanks to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology for the recognition 🏆

We don’t just treat the patient in front of us; through teaching, we treat the thousands of patients our students will one day care for 📚 🩺

Thanks to all who attended the launch of our @HSELive & @HIVE_LAB “All Islands Health” programme today 🩺 This project represents the best of translational research. A clinical problem was identified and through academic study, innovation and multistakeholder engagement is now scaling to a national healthcare solution which will directly improve patient care. Many of our patients in the West of Ireland, in particular on the islands have to overcome significant geographic barriers to access healthcare and so this novel virtual care programme for rural communities will ameliorate the friction of distance.

Today I had the pleasure of teaching our HST SpRs about AI in Clinical Medicine, at University Hospital Galway 🧠💻 As the technology moves from the lab to the bedside, the question isn't just if AI will assist us, but how we can trust the "Black Box" of clinical algorithms. Understanding the 'why' behind the output is just as vital as the diagnosis itself. It was brilliant to see such a high level of engagement from the next generation of consultants. We aren't just teaching medicine anymore; we're preparing for the next frontier of healthcare innovation. 🩺✨

Science like success is a team sport 🤝 Thanks to Prof Kevin Pfleger and all his team at The University of Western Australia for meeting with our #HIVE Lab team University of Galway to discuss the frontier of Cardiovascular #MedTech innovation and how our smart sensor work in Ireland can compliment their novel materials work in Australia to make next generation technologies to improve patient care 🩺

Great to teach & learn how #digitalhealth technologies can improve #diabetescare with our colleagues at Diabetes Western Australia 🇦🇺

Thanks to Royal Perth Hospital hospital and the Department of Health (Western Australia) for inviting our @HIVE_LAB at the University of Galway to share our Irish #DigitalHealth knowledge & experience to improve patient care worldwide. Through meetings, workshops & the delivery of medical grand rounds, we were able to teach & learn about the opportunities for healthcare innovation using #360degree thinking, #MedTech and #AI 💻 🩺

Thanks to our @HSEMidWest clinical colleagues for sharing their knowledge & experience of their Virtual Ward service at our UHG Grand Rounds, as we shortly launch our own VW in @HSE_West_NWest 🩺 💻