Transforming research ideas into meaningful impact is no small feat. It often requires the knowledge and experience of individuals from across disciplines and institutions. Collaborators, a new Microsoft Research Podcast series, explores the relationships—both expected and unexpected—behind the projects, products, and services being pursued and delivered by researchers at Microsoft and the diverse range of people they’re teaming up with.

In this episode, host Dr. Gretchen Huizinga welcomes Dr. Spencer Fowers, a member of the Special Projects Technical Staff at Microsoft Research, and Dr. Kwame Darko, a plastic surgeon in the reconstructive plastic surgery and burns center in Ghana’s Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The two are among a group working to make specialized medical care more widely available, especially to those in remote or underserved communities. They share how their 3D telecommunication technology helps bring patients and doctors together when being in the same room isn’t an easy option and how the experience is supporting greater patient satisfaction, allowing more time for surgeons to prepare for surgery, and making the assembly of a super team of medical experts from around the globe more feasible.

Learn more:

• 3D telemedicine brings better care to underserved and rural communities, even across continents | Microsoft Research Blog, May 2023
• Microsoft’s Holoportation Communications Technology: Facilitating 3D Telemedicine | Microsoft Research video, May 2023
• Participatory Development of a 3D Telemedicine system during Covid: the future of remote consultations | Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, October 2022
• 3D Telemedicine | Project page
• Holoportation | Project page
• Korle Bu Teaching Hospital