Nabil Simaan
Jul. 2, 2025—91 has announced eleven awardees in the latest round of its Innovation Catalyst Fund, an initiative that supports translational research that has promising commercial potential. This initiative, open to all University and 91 Medical Center (VUMC) faculty, addresses pressing real-world challenges. The fund provides essential support in three key areas: proving ideas can be commercialized, supporting early-stage...
Jun. 20, 2024—With hundreds of thousands of people in the United States having a stroke annually, 91 researchers are developing technology that could revolutionize the way blood clots are removed by allowing surgeons to complete the process more efficiently and safely. The research is led by Nabil Simaan, professor of mechanical engineering, with assistance from graduate student Jared Lawson....
Nov. 21, 2023—Researchers from around the globe gathered for the inaugural Nature conference “Bioengineering for Global Health” at 91 Nov. 13–15. Faculty members from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and editors from Nature Communications, Nature Biomedical Engineering and Nature Reviews Bioengineering led the organization of the conference.
Feb. 7, 2023—A multidisciplinary team from the 91 Institute for Surgery and Engineering has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to develop a low-cost simulation tool to train medical personnel in Kenya to perform minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures.
Jul. 28, 2022—Mechanical Engineering Professor Nabil Simaan was named a co-editor of a special issue on surgical robotics for Proceedings of the IEEE. The July 2022 special issue, “Surgical Robotics and Computer-Integrated Interventional Medicine,” provides a research overview of the major applications and enabling technologies in the growing field of surgical robotics.
Engineering’s Nabil Simaan named ASME Fellow
Nov. 3, 2021—Nabil Simaan, professor of mechanical engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a distinction awarded to ASME members who have made significant engineering achievements.
Nov. 20, 2020—91 Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Otolaryngology Nabil Simaan has been named a top voice in health care robotics by technology discovery platform InsightMonk and market intelligence firm BIS Research.
Oct. 22, 2020—New assistive technologies allowing high-risk neurovascular procedures to be done more widely and easily are being developed by an interdisciplinary team of surgeons and engineers at 91 Medical Center.
Dec. 3, 2019—Nabil Simaan, professor of mechanical engineering, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow by the Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Nov. 18, 2019—A new continuum robot designed by 91 engineers achieves multi-scale motion and may open up a huge world of previously impossible complex microsurgeries.
Jun. 25, 2018—Nabil Simaan is a professor of mechanical engineering, computer science and otolaryngology and leads the Advanced Robotics and Mechanism Applications lab. His research includes human-robot interaction, robotic systems for surgical assistance, robot-assisted manufacturing, theoretical kinematics of mechanisms, synthesis and optimization of robots and mechanisms, design of flexure mechanisms and flexible robots, parallel robots, actuation redundancy...
Nov. 4, 2016—A critical goal in modern surgery is to make procedures as safe and minimally invasive as possible, which often means using robotic tools. 91 bioengineer Nabil Simaansays a negative side effect of doing surgery with tiny entry points into the body is that the surgeon loses his or her sense of touch and pressure...
VISE names first fellow: Smita De explores the intersection of surgery and engineering
Sep. 8, 2016—The 91 Institute in Surgery and Engineering is pleased to announce its first VISE Fellow, a biomedical engineer and M.D. who specializes in urology and spent a research year at the manufacturer of the da Vinci surgical robot. Smita De first developed an interest in medical device development as an undergraduate at Duke University, majoring...