XSurgical

Dr. Debora Botturi, PhD, is an Executive with experience in innovation and technology transfer. Her experience is on Innovation and Communication Technologies (ICT) and her focus is on the application domain of robotic surgery. She received a master’s degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Verona with a specialization in teleoperation systems and automatic execution of robotic tasks. She was a post-doc at Dept. of Robotic and Mechatronic, DLR, Munich, Germany, and she was project manager of a ground breaking European Project on robotic surgery. Since 2013 she is an Innovation Manager carrying out research and supervision of industrial projects in the areas of robotics and advanced sensors and also an expert evaluator for the European Commission. Debora Botturi resides in Italy.

Gianluca De Novi, Ph.D. A faculty member at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Extension School, he earned his master’s degree in Electronics Engineering and his Ph.D. in robotics and control systems from the University of Bologna in Italy. While there, he also worked as researcher at the Laboratory of Automation and Robotics, the Computer Vision Laboratory and the Microelectronics Laboratory. After spending one year as a visiting researcher at the Bio-Robotics Laboratory of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, he completed his Postdoctoral fellowship in Medical Device Design and Medical Simulation at the Department of Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital (now Massachusetts General Brigham) and became a Harvard Medical School faculty in Boston, MA. Dr. De Novi has also acted as scientific consultant to many leading corporations and research institutions. His interest in computer-based surgery began with exploration of cutting-edge technologies for graphic rendering and developing a complete virtual reality framework optimized for haptic rendering and surgical robotics. During his post-doctoral fellowship, he focused his interests on other crucial aspects of robotic surgery, such as real-time gesture analysis and task recognition, Human Machine Interaction and Augmented Reality. Through his academic position he has lead and participated to many important DoD funded research in this domain and contributed in the definition of upcoming standards in the Med-Tech field. He has been a scientific and strategic advisor at ADM Tronics Unlimited Inc. since May 2015 and served as a member of its Advisory Board since September 2014. Dr. De Novi is currently Chief Technical Officer (after a fast transition from an advisory appointment) at Plymouth Rock Technology, leading the development of Threat Detection technologies since February 2021, one more time developing technologies of interest for the US government. Among the many recognition that Dr. De Novi received during his career, stands out the PrimiDieci Society and the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce recognition of Dr. De Novi as one of the Top Ten most distinguished Italian Professionals in the United States under the age of 40 in 2013. Gianluca De Novi resides in Massachusetts.

Michele Marzola is a serial entrepreneur with experience in more than 20 start-ups in Life Sciences that he founded and funded during the past 12 years. His experience ranges from medical devices to biotech. He was Chairman and President at Angiodroid, a company that he took to market leadership in peripheral angiographies through an innovative technology using Carbon Dioxide as contrast medium. Angiodroid consistently delivered triple digit growth under Michele’s leadership and was already profitable after three years from funding. At Green Bone Ortho Michele led a group of private investors to complete one of the largest Seed rounds in Italy and then led the Series A and Series B rounds for an aggregate value of € 30 M; Green Bone is now demonstrating its capability to regenerate bone even on large missing sections of several centimeters. At Interceptin Michele has co-founded a company developing a very promising therapy for prostate cancer and other solid tumors, based on an immunotoxin driven by a bispecific antibody fragment. At Surgica Robotica Michele led the company from its inception, achieving funding and development of the two first successful prototypes. Michele was previously General Manager at IBM, with responsibility of its consulting and application management services in Europe, Middle East and Africa; at IBM Michele also negotiated a JV with Enel S.p.A. and spearheaded the creation of intelligent networks around the globe. Mr. Marzola has an MBA with top honors from Columbia University in New York and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering with full grades from the University of Bologna in Italy. Michele Marzola resides in Italy.