Steven Schwaitzberg, MD, is a pioneer in the field of minimally invasive surgery.

Over the course of his career, he has worked on developing the techniques and certification standards for this type of surgery, which is far less painful for patients and allows them to return to their normal lives sooner than with traditional surgery.

Schwaitzberg is the Chief of Surgery at the Cambridge Health Alliance at the Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital.

He recently served as the president of SAGES (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons), a national organization that seeks to advance surgery and improve patient care.

Now, he has his eye on teaching minimally invasive surgery techniques to surgeons who live and work across the globe -- a task which has led him on a hunt for the right technology to allow for video conferencing and real-time translation in a surgeon’s native language.