Mr. Nathan Fisher Takes the Reins of TATRC’s MedRAS Division
June 30, 2021 | Download PDF
After serving as the Deputy Division Chief for several years, and recently as Acting Chief of the Medical Robotics and Autonomous Systems (MedRAS) Division, Mr. Fisher was officially appointed as the Chief of the Division in April 2021. Mr. Fisher started his TATRC journey over seven years ago as Research Engineer and Subject Matter Expert in robotics and mechanical engineering. Nathan’s role evolved over time leading him to serve as a Principal Investigator for TATRC’s intramural research projects and playing a key role in shaping the MedRAS S&T Task Area, as well as building the core competencies of the Division formerly titled the “Medical Intelligent Systems Lab,” under the guidance and mentorship of the previous Division lead, Dr. Gary Gilbert.
“It truly is an honor to lead this group at TATRC,” stated Mr. Fisher. “Dr. Gilbert has stressed to me that the key to the future success of this lab is building a strong team. I am continually impressed with the expertise, passion, and professionalism of each of the MedRAS team members, which gives me confidence in our ability to execute our challenging research mission.”
The MedRAS Division’s research mission is directly aligned with the Army S&T Task Area of the same name, focused on applying robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to rapidly bring the right expertise, tools, and supplies to the point of need to affect pre-hospital care. Areas of research include: the application of medical RAS technologies to allow local care providers to be assisted by medical robotics, either driven by conventional tele-operation from remote experts, or driven by AI or closed-loop control; and leveraging the growing use of unmanned air and ground vehicles to expedite the evacuation of casualties or the delivery of supplies to support field care when evacuation is not possible, all while minimizing risk to Soldiers.
The fundamentals of the Division include early test and evaluation of emerging technologies and concepts, involving hands-on operations from Soldiers and Medics under realistic operational conditions. The team also intends to continue to build on our well-established relationships with other military, government, academic and private organizations to leverage expertise and maximize utilization of scarce RDT&E resources in order to provide technical solutions to medical capability gaps for forces operating in challenging pre-hospital settings.
The MedRAS Division consists of a relatively small (but growing) core group of research engineers and scientists at TATRC, all specializing in robotics and its associated engineering disciplines, to include biomedical engineering. This driven group is leading several collaborative intramural research efforts involving close partnerships with other USAMRDC labs, other DoD R&D organizations, industry, and academia, as well as providing technical guidance and oversight to sponsored extramural research efforts.
“Leading this division has already proven to be highly rewarding. I’m excited to continue to work with world-class researchers and engineers on compelling technology solutions to address a problem that truly matters,” stated Mr. Fisher.
TATRC is looking forward to watching our MedRAS Division grow and excel under Mr. Fisher’s strong leadership.
This article was published in the January 2022 issue of the TATRC Times.