Raahil Sha
CTO, Zeta Surgical
About Me
Meet Raahil
Years Old
Cities Visited
Hobbies
Hours Piloted
Resume
Cambridge, MA | raahil.sha@zetasurgical.com
Experience
Zeta Surgical
Co-Founder and CTO
2018 - present
Co-founded Zeta Surgical, a startup that creates tools for next-generation surgical navigation and robotics
Conduted pre-clinical and clinical studies at multiple trial sites
Raised $8.9 million in funding from VCs and angels
Published research in top clinical journals including JNS
Developed and obtained FDA clearance for the Zeta Cranial Navigation System, a neurosurgical image guidance system that provides surgeons with submillimeter accuracy in any surgical environment
AlgoDepth
Quant Finance Research
2017
Performed maintenance, optimization, and improvement of the hedge fund’s in-house backtesting engine systems
Created an interactive tool to allow analysts to evaluate performance of trading strategies through risk and volatility-related metrics and Profit and Loss analysis
Developed efficient and optimized evaluation algorithms for various machine learning models to use in high frequency trading, including one that can evaluate 500 decision trees within a random forest in under 45 microseconds
Human Connectome Project
Research Intern
2015 - 2016
Performed research on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) in the Visual Computing Group at Harvard University
Developed a pipeline to align scanning electron microscope images of brain tissue in 3D space
Analyzed over 961 gigabytes of high resolution image data using high throughput computational systems
Optimized algorithms using machine learning and parallel processing techniques for a 347% increase in speed
Art of the State LLC
Programmer
2015
Worked as a programmer in the production of Alliance: Air War, a photorealistic, high-intensity flight simulator for iOS
Incorporated real-world data to develop a physics model for fighter airplane flight simulation
Developed particle and trail rendering systems compatible with the Metal API
NanoTech Institute, UTD
Student Researcher
2011-2014
Worked on various projects involving the use of nanotechnology as part of the NanoExplorer program at UT Dallas
Created a novel statistical method to quantify methylation heterogeneity in various lung cancers, including Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (LuSC) and Lung Adenocarcinoma (LuAD)
Developed a platform to streamline transcriptomic characterization of bioinformatics experiments
Utilized Deep Neural Networks to predict DNA Nucleotide Modifications in cancer patients with a success rate of 81%
Media
News Articles
(2023, November 28) Forbes - 30 Under 30: Healthcare, North America 2024 (Link)
(2023, September 13) Fierce Biotech - Zeta Surgical zeroes in on FDA nod for 'GPS-like' neurosurgery navigation system (Link)
(2023, September 11) Boston Business Journal - Zeta Surgical secures first FDA clearance for robotic surgery system (Link)
(2023, August 9) Forbes - 30 Under 30: Boston Local List 2023 (Link)
(2022, March 10) TechCrunch - Zeta Surgical comes out of stealth with a $5.2M raise for image-guided surgery (Link)
Press Releases
(2023, September 11) PRNewswire - Zeta Surgical's Mixed Reality Navigation System Receives FDA Clearance (Link)
(2023, June 22) PRNewswire - Zeta Surgical Announces Successful Treatment of First Patient in Neurosurgical Navigation Clinical Trial at Singapore's National Neuroscience Institute (Link)
Education
Harvard University
2018
Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Computer Science
Specialization in Study of Mind, Brain, and Behaviour
McKinney Boyd High School
2014
Academics: 4.0 GPA; Rank 2/717
Test Scores: ACT: 36; SAT: 2370
Publications and IP
Papers
Jiang, Z., Hua, M., Li, J., Le Mau, H., Stolyarov, R. M., Gormley, W. B., Amich, J. M., and Sha, R. M. (2024) SCOUT: Skull-Corrected Optimization for Ultrasound Transducers. In preparation.
Lim, J. X., Sha, R. M., Amich, J. M., Stolyarov, R., Le Mau, H., Chiurillo, I., Gormley, W. B., Kirollos, R. W., and Chen, M. W. (2024) Real-time vision-based navigation for precision neurosurgery: a first-in-human ventriculostomy study. Submitted to journal.
Chiurillo, Isabella, Raahil M. Sha, Faith C. Robertson, Jian Liu, Jacqueline Li, Hieu Le Mau, Jose M. Amich, William B. Gormley, and Roman Stolyarov. 2023. High-Accuracy Neuro-Navigation with Computer Vision for Frameless Registration and Real-Time Tracking. Bioengineering 10, no. 12: 1401.
Robertson, F.C., Wu, K.C., Raahil, M.S., Amich, J.M., Lal, A., Lee, B.H., Kirollos, R.W., Chen, M.W. and Gormley, W.B., 2022. Stereotactic Neurosurgical Robotics With Real-Time Patient Tracking: A Cadaveric Study. Operative Neurosurgery, pp.10-1227.
Robertson, F.C., Raahil, M.S., Amich, J.M., Essayed, W.I., Lal, A., Lee, B.H., Prieto, P.C., Tokuda, J., Weaver, J.C., Kirollos, R.W. and Chen, M.W., 2021. Frameless neuronavigation with computer vision and real-time tracking for bedside external ventricular drain placement: a cadaveric study. Journal of neurosurgery, 1(aop), pp.1-10.
Robertson, F.C., Sha, R., Amich, J., Lal, A., Lee, B., Wu, K., Segar, D.J., Calvachi, P. and Gormley, W., 2020. Computer Vision Registration as a Novel and Accurate Approach for Frameless Stereotactic Neuronavigation. Neurosurgery, 67.
Sha, R.M., 2018. Efficient Object Localization and Scene Registration Using Contour-Enhanced Point Cloud Resampling Techniques (Undergraduate dissertation).
Presentations
Robertson, F.C., Raahil, M.S., Amich, J.M., Essayed, W.I., Lal, A., Lee, B.H., Prieto, P.C., Tokuda, J., Weaver, J.C., Kirollos, R.W. and Chen, M.W., 2021. Frameless neuronavigation with computer vision and real-time tracking for bedside external ventricular drain placement: a cadaveric study. Presented at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons meeting, October 2021
Robertson, F.C., Wu, K., Raahil, M.S., Amich, J.M., Lal, A., Lee, B.H., Prieto, P.C., Kirollos, R.W., Chen, M.W. and Gormley, W.B., 2021. Robotic Neurosurgery with Frameless Stereotaxy and Real-Time Patient Tracking: a cadaveric study Presented at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons meeting, October 2021
Robertson, F.C., Raahil, M.S., Amich, J.M., Essayed, W.I., Lal, A., Lee, B.H., Prieto, P.C., Tokuda, J., Weaver, J.C., Kirollos, R.W. and Chen, M.W., 2021. Frameless neuronavigation with computer vision and real-time tracking for bedside external ventricular drain placement: a cadaveric study. Presented at the New England Neurosurgical Society Annual Meeting, June 2021
Raahil, M.S., Su, W., Kulkarni, A., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Ray, P. and Zhang, M., 2013. SPIE: An Integrative RNS-seq Pipeline for Optimized Processing of RNA-Seq Data. Presented at the George A. Geffrey NanoExplorers Symposium, August 2013
Patents
Sha, Raahil M., Amich, Jose M. "Systems and Methods for Real-time Multiple Modality Image Alignment”: US17/635,693 (US Application), JP2022536909A (Japan Application), CN202080071899.XA (China Application), EP20762004.8A (Europe Application), AU2020332683A (Australia Application), PCT/US2020/046473 (PCT Patent Application)
Sha, Raahil M., Amich, Jose M., et al. "Systems and Methods for Handheld Real-time Surgical Navigation Guidance.": PCT/US2022/012329 (PCT Patent Application)
Sha, Raahil M., Amich, Jose M., et al. "Systems and Methods for Robotic Surgical Control and Navigation.": AU2022341973A (Australia Application), PCT/US2022/042659 (PCT Patent Application)
Sha, Raahil M., Amich, Jose M., et al. "Systems and Methods for Real-Time Noninvasive Surgical Navigation": PCT/US2023/026065 (PCT Patent Application)
Jiang, Zheng, Sha, Raahil M., et al. "Systems and Methods for Simulating Ultrasound Beam Profiles": 63/627,480 (US Provisional Patent Application)
Amich, Jose M., Sha, Raahil M., et al. "Surgical Cart": 0090908220001, 0090908220002, 0090908220003, 0090908220004 (EU Registered Design), 6220409, 6220410, 6220411, 6220412 (UK Registered Design), 202230463140.8 (China Design Application)
Skills and Interests
Technical
- C++
- Python
- C#
- Java
- OCaml
- R
- MATLAB
- HTML/CSS
- JavaScript
- LaTeX
- SQL
- Amazon AWS
- Microsoft Hololens
- Mobile Dev
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Bioinformatics
- Machine Learning
- Computer Vision
Management
- Fundraising
- Budget Management
- Public Speaking
- Business Strategy
- Risk Management
- Agile
- Confluence
- Project Management
- Jira
- Clinical Trials
- Intellectual Property
Languages
- English
- Tamil
- Spanish (Limited)
Hobbies
- Photography
- Private Pilot (IR, Complex, High Perf)
- Jewelry Design
- Road Trips
- Hiking
- Art History
- Historical Fiction
- Cooking Desserts
- Tennis
- Archery
Accolades
Personal Distinctions
Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare 2024
Forbes 30 Under 30 Boston Local List 2023
Millennium Campus Network Fellow
Harvard Frankin Fellowship Tech x Social Impact Speaker
Harvard Distinction in Teaching Award
Harvard iGEM Biohackathon Judge
MakeHarvard Hackathon Judge
Harvard Crimson's 15 Most Interesting Seniors (2018)
Martin Nguyen Community Service Award
O'Donnell Excellence in Arts and Music Theory Award
VASE Visual Arts Competition District Finalist
Accelerators
Brinc Global Acclerator 2020
Y Combinator Summer 2019
MassBio MassCONNECT 2018
MassChallenge 2017
Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project 2017
Harvard Innovation Labs VIP 2017-2018
Brinc Global Acclerator 2020
Company Awards
NY 2023 Product Designer of the Year - Medical Devices
Gold Good Design Award - Medical and Scientific Category
iF Design Award 2023 - Healthcare Category
New England Neurosurgical Society Integra Award for Innovation 2021
Best Operative Technique, Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2021
Swissnex Global Pitchfest Finals
CODE_n Contest Finals
US-China Health Summit Innovation Competition Finals
Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition Finals
My Photography
Here is a collection of pictures from the various adventures that I've been on over the years.