Jason is Director of Vascular Surgery at Austin Heath, and also heads The University of Melbourne Medical 3D Printing Laboratory, @3dMedLab. He completed his specialist training in 2007 and has held multiple governance roles including Victorian Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, AMA Victorian State Councillor and President of the Australian Chinese Medical Association of Victoria. He has a passion for medical innovation and technology and maintains multiple active surgical research streams.

Dr. Jason Chuen was a speaker at our 2018 Melbourne event. 

Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Jason: Like many, my first encounter with 3D printing would have been through science fiction. I don’t recall what came first — the concept of matter transportation from watching Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, the replicator in Star Trek, or something similar. To me, it just seemed natural that this technology would come into being someday. It was actually a surprise to me to find out in the mid-2000s how much basic work was still being done to get it out of the hobbyist stage and into widespread consumer applications.

Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey in 3D printing ?

Jason: After keeping an eye on developments in the news (things like the concept of 3d-printed guns) it started striking close when I saw 3d printed anatomical teaching and simulation models starting to appear in reports from Japan. Around that time I also saw the vascular aortic work from Mayo and Cleveland Clinic and that was something I really wanted to get into. I wanted the end product, and that meant I needed to investigate how to produce it.

Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing ? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
Jason: For much of my career I had accepted that most medical technologies were developed elsewhere and that some big behemoth of a medical device company would turn it into something I could use. There are really three groups of people I would say were inspirations — the first was via one of my mentors, the late endovascular surgical pioneer Dr. John Anderson from Adelaide. He gave me a behind-the-scenes view of endovascular aortic stent-graft development and the fact that front-line Australian surgeons were key players in this revolutionary technology. He told me the stories of how Michael Lawrence-Brown (a Perth Vascular Surgeon) and radiographer David Hartley developed the H&LB stent-graft platform into a global success story. This taught me that medical technological advances come from real people solving real problems.
The second group is the Research Platforms team at The University of Melbourne including David Flanders and Paul Mignone who has since moved into private industry. They have shown me the importance of sharing our work and creating infrastructure and platforms that help other researchers to advance their fields — it is really the concept that what benefits me is great, but what benefits everyone is truly transformational.
The third group is the research students that I have had over the past few years. The journey that they have gone through from being complete novices to developing a real passion for this work inspires me to keep going. Nothing is more powerful than the thought that we have started a ball that will roll on under its own momentum.

Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Jason: I find that the biggest obstacle in this field is that there are scattered teams around Australia and New Zealand that are working on Medical 3D printing projects without communicating or collaborating with each other — mainly because they don’t know who each other are. We are gradually overcoming that by bringing together networks of researchers, clinicians, and engineers, and the October 3dMed Australia Conference which will be held at The University of Melbourne will be key to that. If anyone you know has not submitted an abstract or registered to come then please pester them until they do! Go to https://3dmedlab.org.au/3dmedau18 for more information.

Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Jason: I think the biggest challenge is a conceptual one, and one of the mismatched expectations. 3D printing and especially 3D bioprinting is not the holy grail of manufacturing or a magical means to create solid organs such as kidneys for transplantation. It is an evolution and an additional tool to be used in modern manufacturing or tissue engineering systems which allows us to do what we do already in different, more efficient or innovative ways. It allows us to think outside the box and re-imagine what we can create and how it will work. We need to abandon the concept that a 3d-printed kidney has to look a certain way or that it is created purely with 3d-bioprinting — if it achieves our goal of replacing kidney function then who cares what it looks like or how many different combined manufacturing techniques are required to create it?

Jenny: What were/was the best/worst investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Jason: The best investment I have made is in encouraging and fostering my students — it’s as close as I’ll ever get to 3d-printing copies myself to get work done.

Jenny: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
Jason: Nothing replaces family. In the little spare time that I have, I like to spend it with my wife and children. It doesn’t have to be anything exciting or exotic. If we can have a cuddle or read bedtime stories together then that is precious quality time
 

The post Interview: Jason Chuen, Director of Vascular Surgery at Austin Heath, Australia appeared first on 3DHeals.

Pedro Martinez Seijas MD. Ph.D. MSc. MSc. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Donostia University Hospital (San Sebastian. Spain). HM Hospital Vigo (Spain). He is a visiting Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Mondragon University (Spain) and European Fellow Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (Bruges. Belgium). Doctorate (2015) with doctoral thesis “Variability control using 3D printing biomodels in head and neck reconstruction with auto-transplant. Clinical Process Management”. His work is focused on personalized medicine for dental implants restoration, head, and neck surgical oncologic and surgical reconstruction, cranial and maxillofacial deformities.
Clinical investigation: Personalized Medicine using 3D printing in surgical oncology, surgical auto-transplant free flaps reconstruction and cranial and maxillofacial deformities (2001-2017). Study on synthetic and natural biomaterials for biomedical applications (2003). 3D printing biomodel guided surgery  (2005-2018). Regenerative medicine: Design, Development, and experimental use of resorbable polymer plates coated with hydroxyapatite for the improvement of bone regeneration in the treatment of craniofacial fractures with critical bone defect (2008). Mixed guided surgical computer assistance with 3D printing biomodels (2009-2017). First and second Spanish hemimandible custom made prosthesis (2009). Description of new surgical procedures:  “New Technique in Funcional Neck Dissection. A variant in Oswaldo Suarez´S Manoeuvre (2010)”; “A New Facial “Wings Maxillary” Osteotomomy in a Crouzon´s Syndrome. Mixed Guided Surgical Computer Assistance with 3D Printing Biomodels (2011)” and “Polymethyl Methacrylate Custom-Made Prosthesis: A novel 3D printing-aided Fabrication Technique for Cranial and/or Orbital Reconstruction (2011)”. Dr. Pedro Martinez Seijas will be a speaker at the #3DHEALS2018 conference on April 20-21st, 2018. 
 
Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Pedro: First use was in 2001 and then we improved the biomodel, simulation surgery and custom-made mesh for surgery.
Now after using 3D printing since eighteen years ago, I think that it’s an important tool in complex surgical procedures.
After Vigo´s (Spain) 3DHeals in November 2017 “3D Printing in Personalized Medicine”, a new future opens in Spain for 3d printing. In this way, 3D printing has come to stay with us for the present.
Jenny: What inspired you to start your research in 3D printing?
Pedro: Starting use of 3D printing was that standard hardware could not help us for some complex patients, and in the other hand 3D printing could increase to safety in surgical procedures and we could see results before surgery using surgical simulation planning.
                                               
Oncologic Surgical simulation of resection and autotransplant reconstruction. The result after surgery CT control. – 
Is it the same stimulation?                                                                  
After the beginning, I used 3D printing for “tailored medicine” that is personalized medicine in macro level using 3D printing guides in complex surgical procedures, I could mix 3D printing with computer-assisted surgery using surgical navigation, we could use custom-made prosthesis, I could teach other medical doctors and We could explain and inform the patients of biomodels and We could improve better communication in the surgical team.
3D printing mixed with CAS and custom-made prosthesis: 3D printing biomodel simulation, logistics and fabrication custom-made prosthesis in polymethyl methacrylate.
Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.
Pedro: The inspiration in 2001 appeared with my chief when we were seeing ahead 3D CT scan reconstruction and we were speaking about take on our hands a copy of the patient for improve simulation surgery, molding osteosynthesis plates previous surgery or make custom made prosthesis.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Pedro: Now such the past the patients are the most motivate me for finding excellence in my work, surgical procedures and patients information.  We can avoid side effects in some complex surgeries with better surgical results.
Now I am improving regenerative surgery in oral and maxillofacial surgery osteosynthesis.
Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Pedro: The biggest obstacle is that there are a lot of medical doctors that they cannot see what 3D printing can offer to the patients. In this way, 3D heals offer a great communication channel for inform MD and people.
For the future is increasing information, a colleague teaching 3D printing and we avoid bad uses of the 3D printing. In the same way, MD must become a leader in medical 3D printing because of we responsible for its proper use.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Pedro: There are a lot of people working in 3D printing and 3D bio-printing but it is our responsibility to explain the things that we can do now, what things will be probable and what things will be possible, in other words, that we must have our feet firmly on the ground and avoid creating false expectations for the patients.
Jenny: If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?
Pedro: We never forget: humility, knowledge and common sense.
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?
Pedro: I think: “We must study and we can learn then we must use your knowledge and common sense for helping other people in this way, our own evolution improves your life quality.”
Jenny: If you could have a giant billboard to promote a message to millions and even billions of people in our community (i.e. healthcare 3D printing and bio-fabrication), what message would that be?
Pedro: Be careful with everything that you can do with 3D printing, think different but ask yourself:  Must I do it? Will you use 3D printing on yourself?
Jenny: What were/was the best investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Pedro: The best investment has externalized the process of 3D printing because there are a lot of suppliers in different materials with multiple options.
Jenny: What were/was the worst investment you made in 3D printing/bio-printing/bio-fabrication?
Pedro: Instead there were the worst investments they ever help me for operating in complex surgeries.
Jenny: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
Pedro: The first time in 2009 when I implanted the first Spanish custom-made prosthesis for reconstructing a hemi mandible in a child. Until now this child became an adult and I see them every year and he said to me this year “each step requires a lot of effort, but it’s worth the risk, it’s worth betting one’s very life”.
                   
Custom made hemimandibular prosthesis design.          Medical grade titanium custom made
                                                                                         hemimandibular prosthesis.
In other way Eider came to me after MD said to her that they couldn’t do anything more. She was crying and was depressed for days when she received the notice. Then I thought several options for her and we spoke about them, I presented 3D printed custom made prosthesis and she said: “Ok this is the way”. After surgery she said to me: “3D printing changed my life it’s like being born again after the surgery”.
Jenny: What do you enjoy in your spare time? What are you passionate about outside of your work/3d printing?
Pedro: Medicine is my passion but in other ways I like to see soccer. I like to meet with my friends and family and speak around a table after we have a dinner while we sip good wine.
Jenny: What is your favorite quote? Why?
Pedro: “Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum” (“to err is human, but to persist is diabolical”)
 Lucius Annaeus Seneca.  Every person could err and I learn from mistakes made that they are big mountains, they humble me.
“Think different” Steve Jobs. I think that without it the evolution will not occur.
“In times of crisis imagination is more important than knowledge”. Albert Einstein. In this way for my imagination, the light of intuition can integrate more things than only knowledge.
Jenny: What does the word “3DHEALS” mean to you?
Pedro: It´s a future now: 3D printing.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The post Interview: Dr. Pedro Martinez Seijas, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Donostia University Hospital appeared first on 3DHeals.