IMERSE Surgical Robotics

Jonathan Pearl, MD is the Section Chief, Advanced GI and Minimally Invasive Surgery within the Division of General and Oncologic Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He is also the Chief of General Surgery at the Baltimore VA Medical Center.

Dr. Pearl is a 13-year Veteran of the US Navy. His tours of duty included the USS George Washington, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom (Kuwait). He received several awards during his Navy career including the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal,Iraq Campaign Medal, National Defense Ribbon, and the Navy Commendation Medal. He is qualified to wear the Surface Warfare Insignia (Medical Department Officer) and the Fleet Marine Force Warfare Insignia (Officer).

Dr. Pearl attended the University of Michigan and Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed residency in General Surgery at the National Naval Medical Center and fellowship training in Advanced Laparoscopy and Endoscopy at Case Western Reserve University.

Axel Krieger PhD, an Associate Professor in mechanical engineering with a secondary appointment in computer science at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on both the fundamental and translational development of novel tools, imaging, and robot control techniques for medical robotics. Specifically, he investigates methodologies that increase smartness and autonomy and improve image guidance of medical robots to perform previously impossible tasks, improve efficiency, and ultimately enhance patient outcomes.

As director of the Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment (IMERSE) Lab, Krieger leads a team of students, scientists, and engineers in the research and development of robotic tools and laparoscopic devices. The team made international news in early 2022 when its Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) surgical robot performed laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand of a human—a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans.

Dr. Jin U. Kang holds appointments in electrical and computer engineering at the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and in dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the Jacob Suter Jammer Professor of Electrical Engineering and Chair of the department.

Dr. Kang’s areas of research include optical imaging and sensing, raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, optoelectronic devices, fiber optic devices for medical applications, fiber lasers for sensors and communications, and endoscopic optical coherence tomography.

He received his undergraduate degree in physics from Western Washington University. He completed a master’s degree and received his Ph.D. at the School of Optics (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1998, he was a research engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory.