Surgical Virtual Reality training company FundamentalVR announces Allan May as Chairman

In Virtual Reality News

September 22, 2020 – FundamentalVR, a provider of immersive technology (XR), haptics and machine learning solutions to enhance medical training and patient outcomes, has today announced Allan May as Chairman of the company. In his role, May will lead the company’s continued growth in the US and scale its surgical education and data insight platform, Fundamental Surgery. He will also establish a west coast office for the company.

For the last 25 years, May has served as founder, Chairman, or CEO at ten startup medical device and diagnostic companies. As a result, he joins FundamentalVR as Chairman with decades of experience in funding, leading, and co-founding companies across biotech, Medtech, and diagnostics, according to FundamentalVR.

May is the founder of Life Science Angels, a San Francisco Bay Area early-stage investment group that has invested over USD $70 million in more than 70 biotech, medical device, diagnostics, and mobile health companies. He is also a Venture Partner at Medtech Convergence Fund, a USD $90 million seed, and early-stage venture capital fund. May will continue his work with Life Science Angels and Medtech Convergence Fund while serving as Chairman at FundamentalVR.

“We are thrilled to have Allan join FundamentalVR as Chairman and look forward to working with him during this time where we have seen interest and adoption of immersive medical technology skyrocketing during COVID,’’ said Richard Vincent, co-founder and CEO of FundamentalVR. “Allan has the experience to help us scale quickly and ensure that all surgeons, residents, and trainees around the world have access to safe and affordable training methods.”

Established in 2015, FundamentalVR develops bespoke immersive training simulations for medical device and pharmaceutical companies and serves medical institutions and teaching hospitals through its device agnostic Fundamental Surgery platform, which the company states has been deployed across medical institutions worldwide, including Mayo Clinic and UCLA in the US, UCLH in the UK, and Sana Kliniken in Germany.

Furthermore, its Fundamental Surgery simulations have been accredited by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, allowing the use of either solution to count towards a surgeons’ ongoing professional development. 

“The combination of massive economic dislocation and social distancing brought on by COVID-19 are proving the forces needed to drive permanent change in surgical training and testing as well as the marketing and adoption of new medical devices,” commented May. “FundamentalVR are market leaders in surgical AR/VR technology. The combination of its haptics, multi-user capabilities, sophisticated use cases and applications will allow the company to dominate US surgical training as it is uniquely positioned to provide the proficiency tools and metrics needed to lower the learning curve for trainee and qualified surgeons.”

The Fundamental Surgery multi-user platform was launched in August 2018, and combines  virtual reality with haptics to create an immersive simulation experience for trainees and qualified surgeons, allowing them to experience and navigate the same visuals, sounds, and feelings they would during an actual surgical procedure. Additionally, the company’s @HomeVR offering brings Fundamental Surgery’s educational simulations to standalone VR headsets such as Oculus Quest and HTC Vive Focus Plus.

For more information on FundamentalVR, please visit the company’s website.

Image credit: FundamentalVR

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.