Ones to Watch: St. Louisans driving disruption in a range of industries

Drs. Avari Silva and Silva are changing the way doctors approach surgery. The married couple helped develop SentiAR technology, which relies on mixed-reality technology that allows 3-D digital objects to be placed in a real-world setting. “A big trend in the past 20 years has been to make surgeries as minimally invasive as possible,” says Silva. “However, taking away the ability to see the organ that the physician is working on, or just showing a picture of it in two dimensions, has made these procedures more difficult. By being able to bring 3-D representations of the anatomy to the operating room, we believe that we will improve the success of these procedures for patients.” Avari Silva is a pediatric cardiologist and associate professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, while Silva is an associate professor of biomedical engineering at WashU’s McKelvey School of Engineering. In spring 2023, WashU announced SentiAR had raised $8.5 million for a hands-free cardiac ablation guidance system, the culmination of an eight-year journey since the Silvas came up with the idea. The funding will help SentiAR work to create a sort of “mixed-reality command center,” with a headset that allows physicians to visualize the anatomy they are operating on while controlling various systems in the operating room. “Most of our effort is spent on making sure that we get SentiAR to the finish line,” says Avari Silva, “where the technology is available to physicians worldwide.”