Richard Satava, MD, FACS, is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center, and Senior Science Advisor at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Ft. Detrick, MD. Prior positions
include a military appointment as Professor of Surgery (USUHS) in the Army Medical Corps assigned to General Surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Program Manager of Advanced Biomedical Technology at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He has served on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Committee on Health, Food and Safety.

Dr. Satava has been continuously active in surgical education and surgical research, with more than 200 publications and book chapters in diverse areas of advanced surgical technology, including Surgery in the Space Environment, Video and 3-D imaging, Surgical Robotics, Telepresence Surgery, Virtual Reality Surgical Simulation and Objective Assessment of Surgical Competence and Training.