For some surgical oncologists across the U.S. and internationally, Wichita has become one of the few places where they can learn precision surgical skills for complex surgeries using an advanced robotics system.

Since 2024, Ali Ahmad, M.D., FACS, a board-certified surgical oncologist with Wichita Surgical Specialists and a volunteer faculty member with the Department of Surgery at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, has been providing both onsite and virtual training on the da Vinci 5, the latest and most advanced robotic surgery system by Intuitive. 

Ahmad became Wichita’s first surgical oncologist in 2016 after completing a surgical oncology fellowship at Boston University. Soon after he joined WSSPA, he started using the da Vinci system, which was cleared for use in the U.S. by the FDA in 2000. With a robotic surgery system, the surgeon sits at a console and guides robotic arms fitted with miniaturized instruments.

As Ahmad saw the improved patient outcomes with the less invasive robotic surgery, which include shorter hospital stays, less pain, and reduced post-op infection and hospital readmission rates, he started refining his skills to do even more complex surgeries, he said.

By 2019, he had become so proficient that he was one of two surgical oncologists in the U.S. who provided on-site operating room training in robotic surgery for other surgical oncologists. Ahmad specializes in performing robotic liver and pancreatic surgeries, which is highly difficult and requires extensive training.

Ahmad performs his surgeries at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita, which installed the upgraded da Vinci 5 in 2024. The da Vinci 5 includes a better vision system, improved ergonomics and innovations such as force-sensing technology that provides surgeons with feedback on the push and pull forces of the instrument. Reducing those forces helps decrease tissue damage.

The da Vinci 5 also has a high-resolution telepresence feature, which allows surgeons to connect remotely to watch Ahmad perform real-time surgeries.

“This has really improved the pathway for peer-to-peer training and as surgeons become busier, this will get more mainstream for future generations,” Ahmad said, noting that it requires far less time and money to observe a surgery remotely than in person.

Ahmad estimates he’s probably trained more than 100 surgeons on-site and remotely from across the U.S. and elsewhere in the world since 2019.

During one recent week, for example, he hosted a surgeon from Baylor University on-site for two days.

Through a secure platform run by da Vinci’s manufacturer, Ahmad posts his surgery schedule so that surgeons can book an observation session. Often, Ahmad does pre-op briefings on the patient case and surgical procedure for the observing surgeons.

“He’s training our surgical residents and experienced surgeons in how to do these major surgeries in a much less invasive fashion. It’s just spectacular for our program,” said Brett Grizzell, M.D., FACS, chair of the KUSM-Wichita Department of Surgery and Ahmad’s colleague at WPPSA.

“He is training the best of the best surgeons. These guys are already great surgeons and they want to learn how to elevate their skill set. It’s kind of like Top Gun,” Grizzell said, using a reference to the U.S. Navy’s elite aviator training program.

“The expertise he provides in the field of surgical oncology and especially minimally invasive surgery is rare throughout the country. It’s definitely not something usually seen in a town like Wichita and is usually reserved for a few major academic centers throughout the country. What that means is local care and the entire hospital system of Wichita are elevated. Residents get excellent surgical training, and patients don't have to travel five-to-six hundred miles away,” Grizzell said.

Grizzell has high praise for Ahmad’s drive for education and his compassion for patient care.

The residents in the KUSM-Wichita General Surgery Residency Program not only train with Ahmad, but they also participate in doing research on the use of robotic surgery in oncology surgeries and patient outcomes.

Since the COVID-19 lockdowns, “interest is ramping up quite a bit again nationally and internationally, and a lot of the residents are actively involved in writing about the research and presenting it,” Ahmad said.

“We’ve also written some textbook chapters regarding the surgeries and techniques with the residents. That is helping get them academically involved and oriented toward manuscript and chapter writing,” he said.

“At the end of the day, this is a great way to maintain patient safety,” Ahmad said.