Designed through research and collaboration
PeriopSim has been developed in close collaboration with surgeons, nurses, educators and neuroscientists to ensure accuracy and realistic learning outcomes. The concept for PeriopSim draws from many years experience in surgery simulation research and product development.
Key members of the medical advisory board, Dr. David Clarke, Dr. Ryan D’Arcy and Denise Lalanne were involved in the development of NeuroTouch™, a neurosurgery simulator developed by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Dr. Clarke and Dr D’Arcy performed the world’s first Virtual Reality (VR) brain surgery using NeuroTouch in Halifax, in 2009. CAE Healthcare recently licensed and gained exclusive rights to the simulator from NRC and has re-launched it under the brand name NeuroVR™.
PeriopSim has been selected for several landmark academic research studies to measure the effectiveness of simulation for nursing education. It is the first product, in a range of simulation learning solutions for specific clinical roles.
PeriopSim was created by Conquer Mobile, and now owned and operated by Conquer Experience. The team has deep expertise in Virtual Reality (VR), simulation, Augmented Reality (AR), 3D scanning, real-time collaboration and user experience. The company is based at the Health Tech Innovation Hub at Surrey Memorial Hospital in Canada.
Management Team
Angela Robert
CEO, Co-Founder and Director of Conquer Experience Inc.
Angela has a goal to improve patient outcomes by changing the way clinicians learn. Her vision is to transform medical education using simulation, personalized learning, analytics and gamification techniques.
Angela leads with effervescent passion and inimitable style. She established her credentials as a software engineer at Scotiabank, IBM and Electronic Arts (EA). At EA she worked on more than 20 Triple-A games in five years and as Development Director for Skate™ and Skate 2™. From her time at EA, Angela brings a wealth of techniques for creating realistic learning experiences and motivating people to hone their skills. She also comes from a family of pilots, innovators and entrepreneurs.
She is an active voice in many trade associations including the Society for Simulation in Healthcare where she has had the role of the Chair for the SGVE Section since 2018. Angela graduated from University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science.
When she’s not inspiring and energizing everyone, Angela has a talent finding some undiscovered nature trail and creating disturbingly healthy smoothies.
Dave Foster
COO, Co-Founder and Director of Conquer Experience Inc.
Dave brings over 25 years of product and engineering expertise to the team. Most recently, he was COO & VP of Engineering at Simba Technologies, a leading vendor in Database, BI and Big Data. Prior to that he held senior positions as VP Product Development at Colligo Networks, Director of QA at EA responsible for shipping 60 Triple-A simulation game SKUs globally and Director of Engineering at Motorola Wireless Data. At Colligo, Dave led development of the market leading client software for extending Microsoft SharePoint. At EA, Dave led a large scale testing department, servicing multiple concurrent game teams on schedule-critical deliveries. At Motorola, he led the team that delivered the first commercial GPRS wireless data system.
He holds a MBA from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelors of Science from Queens’ University in Belfast. When not driving operations Dave can be found wandering around a soccer field or delving deep into his DNA and Genealogy.
Advisors
James Bond BN, MD, MEd, FRCS(C)
Chief of Thoracic Surgery, Surrey Memorial Hospital & Fraser Health
James is a thoracic surgeon and healthcare innovator with a track record of streamlining processes. At Surrey Memorial Hospital he has led a Rapid Autopilot Program (RAP) to speed up lung cancer wait times form an average of 190 days to 45 days. Dr Bond’s specific areas of expertise and interest include: MIS Thoracic surgery, MATRIX rib fixation (traumatic chest wall management) and the Congenital Chest Wall program (Pectus disease). Dr. Bond represents Fraser Health Authority on the Surgical Oncology Network .
Dr Bond has led the adoption of the MATRIX thoracic surgical procedure and created a comprehensive program of care at Surrey Memorial Hospital, the only one of its kind in Canada. The MATRIX program procedure is specialized surgery for severe rib fractures, involving customized titanium plates. The innovative surgery improves survival rates, reduces lengthy hospital stays and improves long term outcomes by mitigating chronic pain and breathlessness. Dr Bond currently trains other surgeons in North America on the procedure.
David Clarke MDCM, PhD, FRCSC, DABNS, FAC
Surgeon, Head of Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority
David is Head of Neurosurgery at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Health Authority. David’s clinical research is focused on brain tumors and surgical education. David, in collaboration with Ryan D’Arcy and Denise Lalanne at the NRC worked on the development of the NeuroTouchTM neurosurgery simulator and led the team that brought functional MRI (fMRI) to Halifax. David led the Halifax team that performed the world’s first surgical rehearsal in a virtual reality environment of brain tumor removal.
David is also a PhD-trained neuroscientist whose lab research is focused on the neuronal response to injury and looking for ways to encourage survival and regeneration of injured neurons. His research is relevant to patients with head trauma, spinal cord injury, stroke and Parkinson’s disease.
David is founder and Director of the annual Neurosurgery Rookie Camp that draws first year neurosurgical residents from across Canada. The Rookie camp is held at a state-of-the-art simulation training centre where residents spend two intensive days engaged in hands-on scenario-based training, learning from Canada’s top neurosurgeons.
Ryan D’Arcy B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Professor and BC Leadership Chair in Medical Technologies, Simon Fraser University
Head, Health Sciences & Innovation, Fraser Health
Ryan is a neuroscientist and expert in translating brain imaging technologies into health care innovations. Dr. D’Arcy’s initiatives have led to scientific breakthroughs in: 1) the development of world-leading computer-based surgical/medical simulation technologies; 2) the development of brain vital signs and related devices for point-of-care evaluation of brain function; and 3) the development of brain image monitoring to track functional improvements during treatment. Dr. D’Arcy has more than 160 published works, is a serial entrepreneur founding and partnering with several companies, and has led the development of large-scale health technology clusters in both Atlantic and Western Canada.
In 2013, Dr. D’Arcy worked with Conquer Mobile as an advisor to the PeriopSim team, with the focused goal of bringing advances in surgical simulation technology into wide-scale use for safer and more effective medical treatment.
Denise Lalanne
Business Development Manager, BIOTIC: Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre
Denise is business development lead for the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre (BIOTIC) in Halifax. BIOTIC, which is based out of the IWK (paediatric) and QEII (adult) Health Sciences Centre, is the only hospital-based imaging lab in Canada that has an explicit mandate to translate medical science innovations through commercial partnership. BIOTIC focuses on improving diagnosis and treatment of brain illness and advancing the research and development of non-invasive technologies. Denise is responsible for driving the business development and commercialization activities within BIOTIC by building links between industry, academia, government and the investment community through access to the expertise and infrastructure that will assist getting new technologies to the market.
Denise is also a Director on the Board of CIMTEC, which is supported by the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). She also acts as a business advisor to numerous companies and organizations.
Previously, Denise developed the business development office at National Research Council locations in Halifax in the areas of medical devices and marine biosciences. As Life Sciences Manager, she revamped the technology transfer function at Dalhousie University and led technology commercialization programs. In partnership with the NRC-IRAP program, Denise co-developed an initiative that provides support to Canadian SMEs by providing access to scientific and technical (S&T) expertise at Dalhousie University. Denise was a key member of the team creating and commercializing the NeuroTouch neurosurgery simulator. Denise holds degrees from Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University.
Bonnie McLeod, RN, BScN, MScN, CPN(C)
Consultant for Perioperative Safety and Practice; Chair, ORNAC Advocacy and Political Action Pillar
Bonnie has over 30 years of experience as a perioperative registered nurse and has spent the past decade focused on nursing education in the clinical setting. She is a committed environmentalist, passionate advocate for patient and staff safety, and represents perioperative nurses nationally as the voting delegate of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.
Bonnie is a former President of the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC), and former Secretary of the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses (IFPN). She is currently Chair of the ORNAC Advocacy and Political Action Pillar, Clinical Advisor for the International Council on Smoke Plume Inc. (ICSP) and a Consultant for Perioperative Safety and Practice.