Co-Founders: Christopher Idelson, PhD, CTO (left), John Uecker, MD, FACS, CEO (middle front), Doug Stoakley, President + COO (middle back), Christopher Rylander, PhD, Engineering Advisor (right)
In 2016 Dr. John Uecker, a General Surgeon at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas, approached Dr. Chris Rylander, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering, with a problem that he felt had no effective solution. Dr. Uecker performed about 350 laparoscopic surgeries a year and was incredibly frustrated by having to constantly clean the laparoscopic camera. During the course of a laparoscopic procedure he would have to repeatedly break concentration, remove the camera from the patient's body, clean the camera, and then re-insert the scope into the patient and find his position to resume the surgery. Dr. Uecker believed that longer surgeries, greater patient risk, higher cost, and surgical frustration had to have a solution.
When Dr. Rylander understood the problem he also felt it was worth solving and, with the help of PhD candidate Chris Idelson, set his lab into motion. The goal was to create a simple, compatible in-vivo cleaner that would effectively deal with the main culprits of camera visual blockage- blood, tissue, fat, and condensation.
After over a year of development Dr. Rylander and Mr. Idelson had their initial product and Dr. Uecker began testing it. In the fall of 2017 the IP was patented and Doug Stoakley, an Entrepreneurial Advisor with the Innovation Center at the UT School of Engineering and longtime technology executive, joined ClearCam to drive operations, fundraising, and business strategy.
