VISIE CEO Doug Fairbanks discusses the company’s 3D scanning technologies and its vision for the future of enabling technology in orthopedics in an interview with SmartTRAK.

At this year’s American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting in San Diego, orthopedic startups were in the spotlight in the second annual OrthoPitch event, a Shark Tank-like competition sponsored, in part, by SmartTRAK. Medtech startup VISIE rose to the top to win the event out of forty applicants. VISIE’s optical scanning technology uses white and infrared light, provides non-invasive ‘snap’ registration in under a second, and can be used with or without CT to drive surgical robotic arm positioning without tracking arrays. Doug Fairbanks, CEO of VISIE, discussed the company and its goal to introduce pinless tracking for orthopedic procedures in a recent interview with SmartTRAK.

To find out more, listen to the following video (18:18 min). Below is a link to download the complete transcript of the interview. 

 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Elise Wolf, VP and GM of Orthopedics and Enabling Technology at SmartTRAK. Today, I'm speaking with Doug Fairbanks, CEO of VISIE. Welcome, Doug. And I want to start out by congratulating you and the entire VISIE team for winning this year's AAOS OrthoPitch event.

Doug Fairbanks: Hi. Thank you, Elise. Thank you for having me. And we're all excited.

It's no small feat. I think it was 40 applicants vying for a spot to pitch their company and technology at the finals. And then you were up against three other companies in the finals, 16 BIT, Auctus Surgical and SentryX to be crowned this year's winner. I'm really excited to share with our subscribers a little bit more about VISIE and your vision for the company. So why don't you give a little background about yourself and about the company?

DF: Thank you. First of all, that was a really remarkable competition for us, and the competition was really stiff, right? We talked to a lot of folks in a lot of places, and it's rare that we run up against competition that I think is so profound and so talented, and delivers so much value for patients in the future. So we were very pleased to be the top on that day and we're excited for the recognition of the company. My name's Doug Fairbanks. I'm the president and CEO of VISIE, formerly Advanced Scanners. I've been in orthopedics for about 15 years. I spent the entirety of my career kind of at the intersection of technology, the OR and commercialization.

I've had the pleasure of working in a lot of different roles with a bunch of different companies. Zimmer, DePuy, I worked at Brainlab in the orthopedics unit for a while, and was really close to how technology integrates with patients. And I'm excited that when I saw what Advanced Scanners was doing at the time, I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned to my wife and I said, ‘I have to go there. I have to go work at that company. That is something special. That is something that's going to change the world.’ And here I am a little over two and a half years later and the company is doing remarkable things. I feel bad that I get to stand in front of everybody and take credit and say we're great. But there's a bunch of really remarkable, very intelligent people who work in the office here, who show up every day and push to the very edge of what is scientifically possible for the benefit of patients and surgeons.

I love it. I think what you're doing is really a paradigm shift in the enabling technology space. So could you describe a little bit about what is the technology with the 3D scanners and what really you're aiming to do, and how you're looking to change the landscape?

DF: When I think about the challenges of the OR, we really have to think as a startup, are we locked onto a problem? Do we see that there's an opportunity to do better? And years ago, I asked myself, ‘Hey, are computers and technology going to be more or less part of our lives going forward?’

I think surgeons are asking themselves the same question, ‘How do I use the benefits or utilize all that computing has to offer, while still integrating into my practice and treating patients in the only way that surgeons can do?’

So when we looked at the problem of robotics, navigation and AR-VR, we realized that ...

Allumin8 CEO Alyssa Huffman discusses the company's novel therapeutic hardware during an interview with SmartTRAK at the 2025 NASS Biologic Interventions.

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Allumin8 CEO Alyssa Huffman, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Senior Analyst.

SmartTRAK highlights Surgical Theater and its novel 3D visualization technology at ISASS 2025.

Dennis Roy, director of product management at Surgical Theater, discusses the company and its novel 3D visualization technology in an interview with SmartTRAK at the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) 2025 Annual Conference in Miami, Florida, April 10-12, 2025. The technology merges multiple imaging modalities into a patient-specific model that surgeons can leverage across the entire patient continuum of care. The comprehensive “eXperiential Reality” (XR) environment includes augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality and artificial intelligence.

Click on the following video to find out more (2:45 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below. 

Interview

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Elise Wolf at SmartTRAK. Today I am with Dennis Roy, director of product management at Surgical Theater. We're here at the ISASS meeting.

Dennis Roy: Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, Dennis. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about Surgical Theater and your technology?

DR: So, Surgical Theater is a 3D visualization company. We specialize in taking multiple modalities and merging them into a patient-specific model. So, the idea is that overall we are able to design, we're able to display and deliver a full, comprehensive solution that the surgeon is able to take across the patient care continuum. So, from engagement with the patient themselves, building a surgical plan and then being able to bring that plan into the operating room.

And what kind of imaging do you use to create your models?

DR: So, with ours we can actually incorporate CTs and MRIs as well as ...

Want to know more about Surgical Theater and its novel 3D visualization technology? Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Dennis Roy, Director of Product Mgmt, Surgical Theater, Inc., conducted by Elise Wolf, GM & VP, SmartTRAK Orthopedics & Quality.

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Brad Estes, CEO of CytexOrtho, conducted by  SmartTRAK analyst Emily Meng.

SmartTRAK discusses the latest technologies disrupting the standard of care for chronic low back pain (CLBP)

Non-surgical and less invasive treatment options for CLBP continue to evolve, closing the gap between conservative management and surgical intervention. SmartTRAK estimates that over 450K surgical procedures were performed for low back pain in the US in 2024. However, the number of patients suffering from CLBP is far more significant, and we estimate that over 11 million patients can be treated with new, non-surgical and less invasive technologies.

The treatment approach for spinal back pain starts with conservative measures and progresses to more invasive treatments, depending on the severity and nature of the pain. Treating patients earlier in the cascade can delay the progression and reduce the need for more costly care.

 

In this downloadable article, SmartTRAK discusses the companies and technologies advancing earlier intervention with the potential for disrupting the standard of care cascade, including non-surgical Intradiscal therapeutics and MIS restorative therapies. The article also covers the ongoing shift from spine surgeons to interventionists and the increasingly prominent role of interventional pain physicians. 

 

Click the button below to read the complete Market Outlook article "Trends to Watch in 2025: Interventional Technologies Disrupting the Treatment of CLBP" by Kris Jacques, SmartTRAK  Sr Analyst, Spine and Intradiscal Therapeutics.

SmartTRAK discusses key products and compelling clinical evidence that may impact the Bone Replacement Market in 2025 and beyond.

SmartTRAK looks at what’s on the horizon in 2025 and beyond and highlights the innovation and product advances that could shake up the US Market for Bone Replacement, which is projected to reach a 5-year CAGR of +3.8% by 2028. In this article, SmartTRAK details the recent growth factors/peptides bone grafts that received the FDA’s Breakthrough Device Designation (BDD) and significant milestones in product development in 2024. It also discusses new clinical evidence challenging the belief that autologous bone is the most efficacious graft material.

Curious which companies and products are making waves? This downloadable market outlook article covers, among others:

• Cerapedics' investigational P-15 Peptide Enhanced Bone Graft
• Medtronic’s Infuse bone graft
• Theradaptive's OsteoAdapt SP bone graft
• Bone Biologics' NB1 bone graft
• Locate Bio's LDGraft bone graft 
• Renovos' Renovite BMP-2 bone graft 
• CBBio's NOVOSIS Putty
• Amphix Bio's  drug-device combination product for bone regeneration
• Kuros Biosciences' MagnetOs Granules bone graft

With new growth factor/peptides bone grafts progressing with their timelines to the market and clinical data demonstrating superiority over autograft, the Bone Replacement market is primed to grow in 2025 and the coming years.

Click the button below to download and read the complete "Clinical Evidence Poised to Redefine the Bone Replacement Market in 2025 and Beyond" Market Outlook article by SmartTRAK Erin Dorgan, Sr Analyst.

Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen discusses the company, its novel technology and how the company plans to capture share in the US Market for Mechanical Thrombectomy Devices in an interview with SmartTRAK. 

To see the full interview, click on the following video (32:35 min). An outline of the interview by timecode and a link to download a transcript of the interview are provided below.

Interview Topics by Timecode: 

00:07 Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen discusses his background, the company and its mission.
03:26 Overview of Perfuze technology and products.
07:05 Regulatory approvals and clinical research
08:43 Status of MARRS IDE Study and future plans. Seeking a standalone thrombectomy indication.
11:08 Differentiating Millipede 088 Catheter and competing in the market.
15:40 Status of Millipede 088’s limited market release in the US, commercial strategy, and obtaining real-world insights.
19:29 Funding and timeline to finance and accelerate commercial expansion, clinical, R&D initiatives and pipeline.
21:18 Long-term goals, future innovations/indications and growth.
24:47 Strategic vision, capturing share and market positioning.
27:13 Addressing uncertainties, supply chain challenges, tariffs and future outlook.
28:46 What’s next for Perfuze and closing remarks.

 

Click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Perfuze CEO Wayne Allen, in which he discusses his company, its novel technology and strategies for growth in the US Market for Mechanical Thrombectomy. Anne Staylor, SmartTRAK Executive Editor, VP & GM of Neuro Therapies, conducted the interview.

SmartTRAK highlights AAOS’ OrthoPitch 2025 finalists.

Innovation has always been a key growth driver in orthopedics and startups have been responsible for some of the most novel and innovative orthopedic products ever to reach the market. At the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2025 Annual Meeting in San Diego, orthopedic startups were in the spotlight in the second annual OrthoPitch event, a Shark Tank-like competition sponsored, in part, by SmartTRAK.

Forty companies applied, but only four reached the finals and made their pitches at the event. In this article, SmartTRAK highlights the companies and technologies that made it to the OrthoPitch finals and announces the winner of the competition.

The finalists were:

• VISIE
  • VISIE, formerly known as Advanced Scanners, is a medtech startup located in Austin, TX. The company has developed proprietary hardware and software that ... (read more)
• 16 Bit
  • 16 Bit is a radiologist-founded medical technology company, located in Toronto, Ontario, focused on creating ... (read more)
• Auctus Surgical
  • California-based Auctus Surgical has developed a flexible tether implant designed for ... (read more)
• SentryX
  • SentryX, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company founded as a spin-out of the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands, has developed ... (read more)

SmartTRAK is proud to sponsor events such as OrthoPitch that foster an environment of innovation in orthopedics. We congratulate Visie, 16 Bit, Auctus Surgical and SentryX on making it to the final round.

AND THE WINNER IS ...

Click the button below to read more about each company's innovation and to find out who won the second annual OrthoPitch at AAOS 2025.

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SmartTRAK is the Medtech industry’s only global Insights-as-a-Service solution for the Orthopedics, Wound Care, Regenerative Medicine and Neuro Therapy markets.  SmartTRAK’s propriety methodology turns disparate data from hundreds of sources into powerful insights customers can rely on as the trusted source for strategic decision-making. The  SmartTRAK enterprise platform includes rich daily updates, comprehensive market coverage and simple-to-use tools and dashboards for market, product and financial analysis. Customers leveraging the  SmartTRAK platform also have direct access to market experts for inquiries and advisory services. If you would like a demo of what  SmartTRAK has to offer and see how we can help increase proficiency, improve productivity and reduce costs for your company, just click  here.