October 2, 1998

Following a successful visit by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew to the MGH in July, the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Christopher Meyer, visited the MGH this week to learn more about the multidisciplinary collaborations of the Center for Innovative Minimally Invasive Therapy (CIMIT).

A consortium of the MGH, BWH, Draper Laboratories and MIT, CIMIT combines clinical and technological advances to generate and develop high-impact concepts in minimally invasive therapy that improve the quality and lower the cost of health care delivery.

Describing the CIMIT process to the British guests, David Rattner, MD, of MGH Surgery and head of the CIMIT cancer clinical focus area, presented examples of the technologies that are being studied to improve the detection of malignancy at an early stage. The ambassador and visitors viewed a demonstration of two optical imaging techniques – optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy.

Steve Dawson, MD, of CIMIT, presented opportunities for international collaboration between the United States and Great Britain that will advance medicine using minimally invasive approaches.