News and Events
May 26, 2020 – Virtual reality emerging as effective pain relief
Dr. Louis shares how virtual reality emerging as effective pain relief in Forbes article
“As doctors work to decrease opioid prescriptions for pain, they may start following the lead of a California hospital that is effectively using virtual reality to help its patients feel better…”
February 26, 2020 – Reinventing Healthcare Using Augmented Reality
Read the latest article that highlights Dr. Robert Louis
“All surgeries are complex, and require an enormous amount of cognitive energy and behavioral expertise. With AR the cognitive load will be significantly reduced because the relevant information is provided to the surgeon when and where they need it. This can reduce the likelihood of a medical error and increase the surgical team’s confidence in the likelihood of success…”
Virtual Reality and Healthcare Global Symposium 2020
Join us at the Virtual Reality And Healthcare Global Symposium 2020 to listen to Dr. Robert Louis speak.
Vanderbilt University
Student Life Center
310 25th Ave, South, Nashville, TN 37240
March 2-3, 2020. Nashville, TN
February 21, 2020 – KevinMD Hoag Article
Read Dr. Robert Louis’ latest article on KevinMD.com, social media’s leading physician voice.
“Brain surgery is getting smarter. The journal Nature Medicine recently published a study that found a new imaging technique that allows pathologists to diagnose brain tumors faster and more accurately than ever before…”
March 13, 2020 – The Future is Now: Horizons in Neurosciences
Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute presents The Future is Now: Horizons in Neurosciences.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas
This educational neuroscience program will provide physicians with up-to-date clinical knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases including brain tumors and epilepsy. A team of experts will review the latest advances in the areas of Extended Reality, Stereotactic and Robotic Brain Surgery, Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery as well as new developments in the diagnosis and management of epilepsy. This program is designed for neurologists, oncologists, endocrinologists, and primary care physicians.
Dr. Robert Louis is scheduled to speak at 8:15 a.m. – From Fighter Jets to Brain Surgery: XR Technologies Throughout the Patient Care Continuum
Feb 6, 2020 – Advances in Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Tumors
Hoag Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute cordially invites you to attend Advanced in Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Tumors. A dinner presentation that will discuss recent advances in techniques and technologies in the treatment of pituitary tumors.
Thursday, February 6, 2020 | 6-8 pm
Mastro’s Steakhouse
73405 El Paseo, Suite 120, Palm Desert, CA 92260
Thursday, February 6, 2020 | 6-8 pm
Mastro’s Steakhouse
73405 El Paseo, Suite 120, Palm Desert, CA 92260
Dr. Robert Louis featured on Pharmacomms.tv
Dr. Robert Louis is the Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag Memorial Hospital, California.
He specialises in minimally invasive brain tumour surgery, skull base surgery, neuroendoscopy, microneurosurgery and pituitary surgery. He has particular expertise in endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumours, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumours.
PharmaComms.tv is a digital channel dedicated to bringing you the latest news and updates from the global healthcare communication industry.
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He specialises in minimally invasive brain tumour surgery, skull base surgery, neuroendoscopy, microneurosurgery and pituitary surgery. He has particular expertise in endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumours, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumours.
PharmaComms.tv is a digital channel dedicated to bringing you the latest news and updates from the global healthcare communication industry.
Visit Site
Orange Coast Magazine Hoag January 2020
Dr. Robert Louis is featured in the issue of Orange Coast Magazine Hoag January 2020 as one of the Top Doctors. Read his interview using the button below.
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December 5-6, 2019 – Virtual Reality And Healthcare Symposium Europe ’19
Join us in Dublin, Ireland, at the Davenport Hotel for the Virtual Reality And Healthcare Symposium Europe ’19 where Dr. Robert Louis will be a guest speaker.
Students Learn About Medical Use of Virtual and Augmented Reality
Students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School learned about the medical uses of virtual and augmented reality when Dr. Robert Louis made a recent appearance during a psychology class at the school.
Louis, the Empower360 endowed chair in skull base and minimally invasive neurosurgery, also is the program advisor for the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag Hospital.
CNS Symposium
Join us this afternoon at #CNS for symposium on applications of #virtualreality and #augmentedreality in #neurosurgery. World class faculty will present broad usage of these innovative technologies across the patient care continuum.
#braintumor #minimallyinvasive #neurosciences #changingmedicine #empower360 #brainsurgery
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#braintumor #minimallyinvasive #neurosciences #changingmedicine #empower360 #brainsurgery
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Fox 11 News: Medical Advances: O.C. hospital uses advanced technology in the operating room
Vanessa Borge visits the Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach where doctors are equipped with a virtual reality headset and controllers.
October 21, 2019 – Virtual & Augmented Reality Across the Neurosurgical Continuum
Join us at the Surgical Theater, Virtual & Augmented Reality Across the Neurosurgical Continuum: Perspectives from Master, Mid, and Early Career Neurosurgeons conference where Dr. Robert Louis will be a guest speaker.
September 13, 2019 – Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute Symposium
What an amazing week! In the same day that the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag has been recognized in the top 1% in national rankings for Neurology and Neurosurgery, I officially assume my new role as the Empower360 Endowed Chair for Skull Base and Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery.
The new list from U.S. News & World Report also gives high marks to medical facilities at UCLA, USC, and Loma Linda University
Newport Beach, Calif.-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian showcased Surgical Theater’s virtual reality medical imaging technology in a tour of its ORs, reports The OC Register.
The healthcare industry is slowly warming up to emerging technologies. Small and large healthcare providers alike are starting to realize that investing in tech-enabled solutions yield big results.
Virtual reality tools, for instance, allow physicians to minimize surgical errors, while medical devices powered by smart software can help them make highly-accurate diagnostics within minutes. And that’s just a fraction into how cutting-edge technologies can enrich the lives of both patients and providers.
Virtual reality tools, for instance, allow physicians to minimize surgical errors, while medical devices powered by smart software can help them make highly-accurate diagnostics within minutes. And that’s just a fraction into how cutting-edge technologies can enrich the lives of both patients and providers.
Whether navigating a star ship through a meteor storm or lurking through the murky underbelly of a city at midnight, gamers have long used virtual reality technology to make their experiences seem … well, virtually real.
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach recently hosted a tour of its operating rooms that are using the same technology to let doctors virtually experience human anatomy in great detail and perfect surgeries before performing the real thing.
Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach recently hosted a tour of its operating rooms that are using the same technology to let doctors virtually experience human anatomy in great detail and perfect surgeries before performing the real thing.
Robert Louis, MD, a fellowship-trained Orange County Neurosurgeon, is the Director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Orange County, California.
Dr. Louis has particular expertise in endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumors.
Dr. Louis has particular expertise in endoscopic and minimally invasive treatment of benign and malignant brain tumors, sellar and parasellar tumors and skull base tumors.
Dr. Robert Louis, director of the skull base and pituitary tumor program at the Hoag Neurosciences Institute, didn’t set out to use virtual reality as a tool for patient engagement.
Originally, Louis explained during a session at HIMSS19, his department was using the technology — which turns two-dimensional radiology images into a three-dimensional virtual reality flythrough — for surgical preparation, as a sort of virtual trial run of surgeries.
Originally, Louis explained during a session at HIMSS19, his department was using the technology — which turns two-dimensional radiology images into a three-dimensional virtual reality flythrough — for surgical preparation, as a sort of virtual trial run of surgeries.
The same virtual reality (VR) reconstructions that surgeons use to plan and rehearse brain surgeries at Hoag Memorial Hospital are being used to engage patients. And neurosurgeons, administrators and patients are all benefitting.
Watch Dr. Louis’ LIVE presentation at the The Patient Engagement & Experience Summit. The Patient Engagement & Experience Summit brings healthcare decision-makers, clinicians, and IT pros together for a deep-dive on how technology is helping to improve patient care through patient satisfaction, empowerment, engagement and experiences.
Follow the conversation with #Engage4Health.
Follow the conversation with #Engage4Health.
Join us at Mount Sinai Hospital, December 8 & 9, 2018. This symposium will cover the breadth of digital neurosurgery from Artificial Intelligence to Extended Reality and beyond. The unique collection of world renowned faculty will discuss and demonstrate the utilization of advanced technologies in clinical practice and how they can be applied to deliver better outcomes for our patients.
Watch Dr. Louis’ LIVE presentation at the 2018 CNS conference.
Pacific Coast Magazine – Summer/Fall 2018: VR in the OR
You’re invited to join TEAM Dr. Robert Louis for the 5K walk/run event and raise funds to support Dr. Louis’ and Hoag’s Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program. All funds raised by our team will specifically benefit the work of Dr. Louis- an alumni of the Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, and as a John Wayne Alumni Fellow, his work continues to be supported by John Wayne Cancer Foundation research grants.
Event: 5K walk/run at 5 PM
Date: Saturday May 5, 2018
Location: OC Fairgrounds
Event: 5K walk/run at 5 PM
Date: Saturday May 5, 2018
Location: OC Fairgrounds
To donate and participate more information can be found on the flyer or by going to the website here: https://donate.johnwayne.org/team/152618
Please let me know if you have any questions. Hope you can participate!!!
Register Now »
Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute Annual Report: January 2017 – December 2017
Webinar: Next Generation Imaging, Preoperative Planning and Surgical Navigation
Using 3-D Virtual Reality Guidance for Pituitary Surgery
Presented by: Robert G. Louis, MD
Program Director, Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program
Date: Monday, May 22, 2017
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Using 3-D Virtual Reality Guidance for Pituitary Surgery
Presented by: Robert G. Louis, MD
Program Director, Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program
Date: Monday, May 22, 2017
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Webinar Objectives:
- Understand the latest developements in imaging and navigation technology as they relate to pituitary and skull base surgery.
- Describe the differences between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality as it pertains to neurosurgery.
- Understand the integration of these advanced technologies throughout the continuum of care.
For the sixth-grade class at Davis Magnet School in Costa Mesa, the science lesson for the day means keeping textbooks and notebooks on the shelves while the students pull out virtual reality viewers by Google Cardboard and their smartphones preloaded with 3D videos found on YouTube.
As they peer through the lenses, Dr. Robert Louis, program director of the Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program at Hoag Neurosciences Institute, guides them through the type of virtual reality “fly-through” he views prior to performing brain surgery on patients at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach.
Three classes of sixth graders at Davis Magnet School in Costa Mesa were treated to a whole new look during their science class. The middle school students received a virtual-reality tour of the brain using their phones and cardboard goggles.
The Congress of Neurosurgical Surgeons has recently published a new set of evidence-based guidelines for evaluation and treatment of Non-Functioning Pituitary Adenomas (NFPAs). The complete set of new guidelines are available on the Congress of Neurological Surgeons website. An executive summary of the entire guidelines along with executive summaries for each individual chapter appear in the October issue of Neurosurgery.
Read The Guidelines »
Read The Guidelines »
Fighter pilots invented a revolutionary way for surgeons to peer inside people’s skulls. Hoag has been using SNAP since December of 2015. In that seven-month period, Dr. Louis and his team have used the technology on every patient they’ve seen. “It’s really making a big impact on the way we do things,” he says. … Read More »
*Article and Photos courtesy of Tech Insider.
One month after successful brain surgery, the Irvine resident sat in an operating room at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach and was handed a pair of virtual reality goggles … Read More »
*Article and Photos courtesy of The Current.
Screen or wear Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles to do a “fly-through” of the precedure. Hoaf became the first nonacademic medical institution on the West Coast to use the technology.
Dr. Robert Louis, a neurosurgeon who performed Barnes’ surgery, said he’d planned to access the tumor through Barnes’ eyebrow. But when he looked at the tumor using the 3D model, Louis realized that … Read More »
Dr. Robert Louis, a neurosurgeon who performed Barnes’ surgery, said he’d planned to access the tumor through Barnes’ eyebrow. But when he looked at the tumor using the 3D model, Louis realized that … Read More »
*Article and Photos courtesy of Orange County Register.
Dr. Robert Louis, a Hoag neurosurgeon who directs the hospital’s skull base and pituitary tumor program: “lets us perform an actual virtual reality ‘fly-through’ before we ever lay hands on our patients. This dramatically increases the margin of safety for our patients”… Read More »
*Article and Photos courtesy of Orange County Business Journal.
Nueroscience Nursing Conference
Neuroscience Nursing Conference
Brain Tumors and Gliomas: Surgical Management in 2016
Robert G. Louis, MD
Program Director, Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program
Date: Friday, November 4, 2016
Time: 9:15 – 10:00 am
Venue: Hoag Hospital Conference Center in Newport Beach, California
Read The Agenda »
Brain Tumors and Gliomas: Surgical Management in 2016
Robert G. Louis, MD
Program Director, Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program
Date: Friday, November 4, 2016
Time: 9:15 – 10:00 am
Venue: Hoag Hospital Conference Center in Newport Beach, California
Read The Agenda »
Monday, September 26, 2016 – Virtual Reality: Clinical Applications & Value in Neurosurgery
- Sunday, Sept 25
- 11AM – Practice/Run-Through – Live Planning Session (Hardrock Hotel, RM TBD)
- I understand you won’t be coming into San Diego until later in afternoon. Do you have an hour time period you can meet with myself and Michael to run through the event?
- Monday, Sept 26
- 9AM-10AM – VR Voyage (ST Booth #715)
- Presentation will begin between 915-930AM, please arrive at 9AM to obtain your microphone.
- Link to your 360 video VR Fly-Through Case
- Link to the 360 video montage that follows each case presentation (you may choose to narrate or not, your choosing)
- Promo handout attached.
- 1PM-145PM – Live Planning Session (Live Surgery Stage, Main Exhibition Floor)
- Presentation will begin 1:15PM, please arrive at 1PM to obtain your microphone.
- We will be setting up starting at 11:45AM.
- Presentation slides provided by Michael Conditt, feedback/edits appreciated.
- Promo handout attached.
- 5PM-8PM – VR Ambassador Reception (VR VIP Suite, Hardrock Hotel, Rm 1101)
- Six ambassadors (including yourself) are confirmed: UCLA, Hoag, NYU, Stanford, University Hospitals, Spectrum Health
- We may ask of you at some point in the evening to share a thought or two about the clinical utilization and value the ST technology has brought to your patients/practice.
- A SNAP, EndoSNAP, Vive, and a few future VR/AR prototypes will be available to demo
- Confirmed attendees include representatives from Boston Children’s, Barrow, Texas Children’s, Northshore Hospital, Northwest Community, Spectrum Health, and more to come.
- VR VIP SUITE invitation attached.
- 9AM-10AM – VR Voyage (ST Booth #715)
Tuesday, February 9, 2016 – Outcome-Driven Pituitary Surgery and Brain Tumor
Event: Outcome-Driven Pituitary Surgery and Brain Tumor
What: Talks on the valuable interplay of technology, technique and experience in pituitary and brain tumor surgeries. Sponsored by the Hoag Neurosciences Institute & Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
Course Director: Robert Louis, MD (Program Director, Hoag Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program) and Christopher Duma, MD (Program Director, Hoag Brain Tumor Program)
Target Audience: Primary Care, Endocrinology, and Neurology
Credits Offered: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ – 1.00
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Time: 6:30 PM for Presentation, 7:00 PM for Dinner Presentation
Venue: Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, 26772 Avery Prkwy, Mission Viejo, CA 92692
What: Talks on the valuable interplay of technology, technique and experience in pituitary and brain tumor surgeries. Sponsored by the Hoag Neurosciences Institute & Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
Course Director: Robert Louis, MD (Program Director, Hoag Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program) and Christopher Duma, MD (Program Director, Hoag Brain Tumor Program)
Target Audience: Primary Care, Endocrinology, and Neurology
Credits Offered: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ – 1.00
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Time: 6:30 PM for Presentation, 7:00 PM for Dinner Presentation
Venue: Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club, 26772 Avery Prkwy, Mission Viejo, CA 92692
*Registration is required. For RSVP, please log on to www.hoag.org/events.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016 – Outcome-Driven Pituitary Surgery and Brain Tumor
Event: Outcome-Driven Pituitary Surgery and Brain Tumor
What: Talks on the valuable interplay of technology, technique and experience in pituitary and brain tumor surgeries. Sponsored by the Hoag Neurosciences Institute & Hoag Family Cancer Institute
Course Director: Robert Louis, MD (Program Director, Hoag Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program) and Christopher Duma, MD (Program Director, Hoag Brain Tumor Program)
Target Audience: Primary Care, Endocrinology, and Neurology
Credits Offered: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ – 1.00
Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Time: 6:30 PM for Presentation, 7:00 PM for Dinner Presentation
Venue: 2100 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA, 92806
What: Talks on the valuable interplay of technology, technique and experience in pituitary and brain tumor surgeries. Sponsored by the Hoag Neurosciences Institute & Hoag Family Cancer Institute
Course Director: Robert Louis, MD (Program Director, Hoag Skull Base and Pituitary Tumor Program) and Christopher Duma, MD (Program Director, Hoag Brain Tumor Program)
Target Audience: Primary Care, Endocrinology, and Neurology
Credits Offered: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ – 1.00
Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Time: 6:30 PM for Presentation, 7:00 PM for Dinner Presentation
Venue: 2100 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA, 92806
*Registration is required. For RSVP, please log on to www.hoag.org/events.