By Lincoln Depradine
Ocho Rios, Jamaica, April 22, 2011: A Jamaica-born lecturer at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) is one of the co-inventors of a device that could lead to a revolution in the teaching of cardiac surgery worldwide.
Dr. Daniel Coore, Dr. Paul Ramphal and Dr. Michael Craven are the inventors of the UWI Cardiac Surgery Simulator. Traditionally, doctors in training to become cardiac surgeons have had to operate on pigs or human cadavers.
The invention by the trio uses computer software to animate a real pig’s heart. Cardiac surgery residents apply stitches and perform other operations in a mock human chest cavity under conditions similar to a hospital’s surgical theatre.
“Student surgeons need practice to become experts. Practising on animals and cadavers is expensive,’’ said Dr. Coore, a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences.
A graduate Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Coore said an attempt is being made to commercialize the Cardiac Surgery Simulator.
The first unit of the apparatus has been shipped from Jamaica to “major teaching hospitals’’ in the United States, said Dr. Coore.
He said the hospitals, which he did not identify by name, were interested in the Cardiac Simulator. A one-year piloting of the simulator at the hospitals would provide data on its efficacy and on any mechanical kinks, he added.
The original version of the simulator was developed in 2001, just two years after Dr. Coore joined the UWI staff.
At the time, Dr. Ramphal – a cardiothoracic surgeon – was employed at the University Hospital of the West Indies, and electrical engineer Dr. Craven was in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Technology.
The simulator was in use in Jamaica until 2004. Interest in reviving and further developing the device resumed in 2008.
Dr. Coore, nephew of Cat Coore – guitarist with the world-renowned Third World reggae band – is an advocate in the call for Caribbean media workers to illustrate the relevance of science and technology to people’s lives.
He outlined his position in a presentation to Caribbean journalists who attended a workshop in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, sponsored by the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication of the UWI and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The workshop’s theme was, “Reporting on Education, Science and Culture.’’ Grenada’s representatives included Oslyn Crosby of FLOW – CC6; freelancer Nicole Best; and Abigail McIntyre and Lincoln Depradine of the Ministry of Information.
Dr. Coore believes that not enough science and technology are used in the Caribbean to improve efficiencies and enhance production in agriculture and other sectors.
He suggested that regional journalists must be motivated to “find and report on science-related stories,’’ and the “general population must be sensitized to the importance of science in order to sustain public support for investment in science.’’
