Events

ISE’s 2025 AI-Enhanced Surgical Practice Consensus Conference

December 4-6, 2025 in Orlando Florida.

A Multidisciplinary, Global Expert Convening

The Institute for Surgical Excellence (ISE) is proud to announce the success of its 2025 Consensus Conference on AI-Enhanced Surgical Practice, one of the most impactful meetings in the organization’s history. As ISE’s 18th consensus conference, this convening further solidified its leadership in advancing surgical innovation, education, and patient safety in the era of emerging technologies.

More than 50 leading experts participated, including surgeons, computer scientists, AI researchers, academic leaders, representatives from robotics and technology companies, and legal and regulatory experts. This breadth of expertise created a uniquely collaborative environment, enabling rapid progress toward consensus-driven standards for the safe, effective, and ethical use of AI in surgical practice.

Defining Core Principles for AI-Enhanced Surgery

A central outcome of the conference was the articulation of shared core principles to guide AI adoption in surgical care. Participants reached consensus around the importance of:

• Advancing surgical safety, quality, and efficiency through AI

• Ensuring AI systems are fair, accountable, transparent, and privacy-preserving

• Designing technologies that respect human values and reinforce clinical judgment

These principles provide a foundational ethical and operational framework for AI-enabled surgical practice worldwide.

Domain-Specific Recommendations: Data, Implementation, and Evaluation

Conference deliberations were organized around three critical domains, each producing actionable recommendations:

• Data: Standards for data quality, interoperability, analytics, governance, and privacy

• Implementation: Strategies for safe and effective AI deployment in the operating room and across the continuum of surgical training and clinical practice

• Evaluation: Metrics, methods, and monitoring approaches to measure impact, ensure safety, and support continuous improvement

Rigorous, Structured Consensus-Building

Participants engaged in a structured, modified Delphi process, beginning with in-meeting domain group deliberations and followed by an accelerated Delphi survey. Notably, 100% of participants completed the Delphi process, reflecting exceptional engagement and alignment. This rigorous methodology enabled efficient convergence on high-confidence expert consensus.

Actionable Guidance with Global Reach

The conference produced expert recommendations intended to guide:

• Surgical teams and hospitals

• Training programs and simulation centers

• Technology developers and medical device companies

• Policymakers and regulators worldwide

These outputs are designed to directly inform clinical practice, regulatory pathways, workforce training, and technology development in AI-enhanced surgery.

Scholarly Dissemination and Lasting Impact

ISE, in collaboration with conference participants, is drafting peer-reviewed publications to disseminate the consensus findings broadly. These publications will contribute to shaping global frameworks for AI-enabled surgical care and influence standards for safety, performance, and trust at scale.

Leadership and Acknowledgments

ISE extends special thanks to Drs. Jeffrey Levy, Justin Collins, Ahmed Ghazi, Carla Pugh, Dimitrios Stefanidis, and Martin Martino for their exceptional pre-meeting preparation and on-site leadership. Their efforts enabled the most efficient and well-structured consensus process in ISE’s history and laid the groundwork for outcomes with lasting global significance.

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