RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – A renowned laparoscopic surgeon has joined the Scientific Advisory Board at TransEnterix.

Dr. Nathaniel J. Soper serves on the American College of Surgeons’s board of governors, and has been president of both the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons and the International Society for Digestive Surgery. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract.

A widely published researcher of gastrointestinal disorders and their treatments, Soper is considered one of the world’s leading experts in laparoscopic surgery.

TransEnterix, an emerging medical device company, is preparing to launch a revolutionary single-incision, single-port, multi-channel laparoscopic surgical platform that will allow doctors to perform abdominal surgeries without leaving a visible scar. Many common laparoscopic techniques used by surgeons today leave three to five small scars in a patient’s abdomen.

Surgeons in the United States conduct more than 2.5 million such procedures each year. Fewer complications, faster full recovery and an improved cosmetic result are potential benefits of TransEnterix’s new technology.

Todd Pope, president and CEO of TransEnterix, said Soper’s involvement on its Scientific Advisory Board represents a significant medical endorsement of both the company’s corporate vision and its product in development.

“To say that Dr. Soper is a pre-eminent and highly respected leader in the international field of laparoscopic surgery is an understatement,” Pope said. “It’s truly an honor that Dr. Soper believes enough in our technology – as well as the benefits it will offer surgeons and patients – that he’s lending his expertise to help us launch and grow.”

Soper serves as chair of the department of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where he holds an endowed professorship as Loyal and Edith Davis professor of surgery. He is surgeon-in-chief at the school’s affiliated academic medical center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and directs its minimally invasive surgery program.

Soper appears in Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.’s America's Top Doctors™ and Best Doctors in America™, both prestigious consumer guides to medicine’s best practitioners.

TransEnterix partners with the world’s leading physicians to rapidly develop pioneering technologies that revolutionize minimally invasive surgery. The company has secured $21 million in Series A venture capital funding.