Bio
Dr. Chris Holsinger is Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University. His research focuses on surgical innovation, AI, and clinical trials. He serves as surgical principal investigator for RTOG920 and coordinated surgeon-credentialing for ECOG 3311, a prospective clinical trial to study robotic head and neck surgery. In 2019, he published the results of an investigational device exemption clinical study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a next-generation robotic surgical system for head and neck cancer. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Surgical TaskForce of the NRG Oncology's Head and Neck Committee.
His interests extend beyond robotics, however, and include new technologies for augmenting the surgical vision and improving intra-operative decision-making. How can surgeons do better by incorporating computer vision and AI into routine surgical practice and endoscopy? This question drives ongoing research and development in providing real-time intelligence during H&N endoscopy and surgery. In 2018, work from a prospective clinical trial demonstrated the feasibility of using multispectral imaging of patients with oropharyngeal cancer, in an effort to better identify tumor margins, as well as to evaluate hyper-spectral imaging to improve surgical vision. Recently, he co-founded Photonic Medical Technologies to translate these innovations into practice for open surgery.
Dr. Holsinger received his medical degree from Vanderbilt School of Medicine, completed his internship and residency at Baylor College of Medicine and his Fellowship in head and neck surgical oncology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 2003, he was awarded Fulbright Scholarship to study surgery at the University of Paris with Professor Ollivier Laccourreye and with Professor Wolfgang Steiner at the Georg-August University in Göttingen.
From 2003-2013, Dr. Holsinger worked at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center where he founded and led the Program in Minimally Invasive and Endoscopic Head and Neck Surgery and co-directed the program in Minimally Invasive Technology in Oncologic Surgery. In 2013, Dr. Holsinger moved to Stanford University to serve as Chief of Head and Neck Surgery and lead the H&N Multidisciplinary Cancer Care Clinical Program.
Dr. Holsinger’s surgical practice focuses on the surgical management of thyroid as well as head and neck cancer. His areas of research interest include endoscopic head and neck surgery, including transoral robotic surgery and transoral laser microsurgery, as well as time-honoured approaches of conservation laryngeal surgery and supracricoid partial laryngectomy.
Board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology, Dr. Holsinger is a member of numerous societies including the American College of Surgeons, American Head and Neck Society, the American Thyroid Association, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
