Kunal Vyas
Kunal Vyas, Director of Surgical Solutions Research, Lightpoint Medical (now Telix Pharma)
Kunal is passionate about changing the way we find and remove cancer during surgery. He does this by developing deep-tech medical devices that enable surgeons to locate cancer cells using state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging drugs, leading to higher precision surgery and better patient outcomes.
Kunal designed and built the world's first surgical Cerenkov luminescence imager, which was used in a first-in-human case in 2012. As Head of R&D at Lightpoint Medical, Kunal has developed innovative nuclear probes for laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgical procedures which are applicable across multiple cancer types. The aim is to allow surgeons to remove all the cancerous tissue while preserving critical structures such as nerve bundles. Lightpoint's flagship product, SENSEI® has completed multi-centre clinical trials in prostate cancer surgery, and has regulatory clearance in Europe, UK, US, and Australia.
Kunal has a background in physics, with a doctorate from Cambridge and has over 14 granted patents. He Chairs C*O round tables for the Royal Academy of Engineering and is an alumnus of the SME leaders programme (now called Schott Scale Up). Lightpoint Medical has received widespread recognition for technology excellence and innovation leading to its recent acquisition by Telix Pharma in a deal worth $35 million.