March 28, 2014
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 32, No. 32
GOOGLE GLASS GIVES NEW PERSPECTIVE
photo by Sarah Pack, Public Relations
Dr. Joseph Sakran is a Google Glass explorer, testing out the potential of this new technology to improve surgical care and medical training at home and abroad.
BY DAWN BRAZELL Public Relations
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WATCH
oseph Sakran, M.D., slips on the glasses and taps the side to turn them on. “Take photo,” he commands, pauses and then hands his $1,500 glasses to a friend to see the photo he just took. After adjusting the view, the friend smiles at the image of himself. “Wow,” he says, as they both grin like boys with a new toy. The ‘wow’ factor is what has people volunteering to become “explorers” from stay–at–home moms to physicians, such as Sakran, who handles general and acute care surgery at MUSC. He became a beta tester for Google Glass Explorer Program in December 2013 and is one of more than 8,000 ‘explorers’ involved in helping shape the future of how Google Glass evolves. Sakran, who likes to be on the cutting edge of
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Students go for gold Twelve medical students were recognized by their peers.
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VIDEO
Visit MUSC’s News Center to see the full multimedia package on Google Glass at www.musc. edu/pr/newscenter/2014/googleglass.html. technology, said it fits into Inspiring Quality Campaign led by the American College of Surgeons to improve the quality of surgical care for patients in the nation. “All of a sudden we have this new technology, and I said to myself, ‘how can this technology be used to care for the surgical patient?’” It turns out quite a bit he’s finding, particularly given his goal of figuring out how to reach resource–poor areas both in America as well as internationally, one of Sakran’s key interests and one reason he was recruited to MUSC from the University of Pennsylvania. His
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main non–clinical role is to head the global health initiative for the Department of Surgery, a cause dear to his heart. Explaining why he details how the global burden of surgical disease continues to rise, and remains one of the top killers in low–and middle–income countries, even though communicable diseases still receive more focus. “It’s the red–headed stepchild of public health,” he said, quoting Harvard expert Paul Farmer, M.D. Only 3.5 percent of 234 million major surgical procedures performed in 2004 took place in the countries representing the poorest 35 percentile of nations. Beyond that, there are areas in the United States that could benefit from the same focus. “You can go to
See Glass on page 7
Women’s History Month
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Nurse Certification
Dr. Cecily DiPiro is more than the woman behind the man.
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Meet Kendra
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Applause
READ THE CATALYST ONLINE - http://www.musc.edu/catalyst