Doctor Jeremy D. Richmon: keep an open mind on robotic thyroid surgery
Introduction of Dr. Jeremy D. Richmon
Associate Professor, Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Director of Head and Neck Robotic Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Dr. Jeremy D. Richmon (Figure 1) is a fellowship-trained head and neck surgeon who specializes in head and neck cancer and microvascular reconstruction. A 2001 graduate of the School of Medicine, University of Rochester, Dr. Richmon completed his residency in otolaryngology at the University of California, San Diego, in 2007, and a clinical fellowship in head/neck oncology, microvascular reconstruction, and skull base surgery at Mass. Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School in 2008. He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2008 and served as the Director of the Head and Neck Surgery Robotic Program until joining the Mass. Eye and Ear Head and Neck Division as a Clinical Associate and the Harvard Medical School faculty in 2016.
Dr. Richmon has become a pioneer in minimally-invasive robotic techniques in the head and neck. He was the first surgeon to perform transoral robotic surgery at Johns Hopkins in 2009 and developed a robust head and neck robotic surgery program of international renown. He has collaborated with engineers and computer scientists to bring the next generation of robotics into the clinical realm and began the robotic thyroid surgery (RTS)program at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Richmon was also the first surgeon in the United States to perform transoral robotic thyroidectomy in 2016, a technique he helped develop.
Throughout his career, Dr. Richmon has actively participated in resident and fellow education and has been responsible for the development of residency training curriculums specific to head and neck robotic surgery. He sits on the editorial advisory board for Gland Surgery as well as various national head and neck oncology and reconstructive committees. He has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr. Richmon’s clinical interests include head and neck cancer, skull base surgery, robotic surgery, and microvascular reconstruction of the head and neck. His research interests include microvascular reconstructive techniques of head and neck defects, robotic surgery, and minimally invasive approaches to head and neck problems.
Editor’s note
Quite many controversies have been raised regarding the trends in RTS, especially in the United States. While the trends in surgery is towards more minimally invasive approaches, this remains a contentious issue with remote-access thyroid surgery which may be more invasive but have the advantage of avoiding a visible neck scar.
Let’s take a close look at the pioneer of RTS, Jeremy D. Richmon, from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, who has just successfully performed first transoral thyroid surgery in Boston.
To demystify RTS, we have a brief interview with Dr. Jeremy D. Richmon (Figure 2) (1).
Interview questions
- Could you please share with us the first transoral thyroid surgery in Boston as you performed on May 2nd?
- What do you think will be the future of the transoral thyroid surgery technique?
- As a pioneer in robotic techniques in the head and neck, could you tell us where is your inspiration come from at the very first beginning?
- You have been chairing the Head and Neck Surgery Robotic Program for almost 9 years, could you share about your experience of the program?
- With you fine contribution, the special issue “Robotic Thyroid Surgery” will be officially published soon in Gland Surgery. What can our readers expect from the special issue?
Acknowledgments
Funding: None.
Footnote
Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Annals of Thyroid for the series “Meet the Professor”. The article did not undergo external peer review.
Conflicts of Interest: The author has completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/aot.2017.06.01). The series “Meet the Professor” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. The author reports that she is a full-time employee of AME Publishing Company. The author has no other conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical Statement: The author is accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
References
- Li G. Doctor Jeremy D. Richmon: keep an open mind on robotic thyroid surgery. Asvide 2017;4:326. Available online: http://www.asvide.com/articles/1638
(Science Editor: Grace Li, AOT, aot@amegroups.com)
Cite this article as: Li G. Doctor Jeremy D. Richmon: keep an open mind on robotic thyroid surgery. Ann Thyroid 2017;2:6.
