November 2008 Feature: Dr. Charles Filipi: surgeon, inventor, humanitarian
by Nicole Resnick, Ph.D.
Charles Filipi, M.D., professor of surgery at Creighton University School of Medicine, has enjoyed an accomplished career as both a doctor and an inventor of medical procedures and devices. Considered a pioneer in the field of laparoscopic anti-reflux and hernia surgery, he recently started a company, SafeStitch Medical Inc., and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
A native of Iowa, Filipi initially stayed close to home for his undergraduate studies at Iowa State University, followed by medical school at University of Iowa School of Medicine. After earning his M.D. in 1967, however, he pursued surgical training on both U.S. coasts. Following an internship in Santa Barbara, Calif., surgical residency at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and service in the Air Force, he set out to establish his practice as a surgeon in Walla Walla, Wash.
It was in Washington where Filipi broke new ground as a researcher and surgeon. He performed the first known animal laparoscopic cholecystectomy (removal of the gall bladder) in 1985, paving the way for a new field of laparoscopic procedures.
Yet another experience during Filipi’s time in Washington proved to be a turning point in his career. A cancer patient of his invited the noted psychiatrist and death and dying expert Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to Walla Walla for a series of lectures. Filipi and his wife Frances, a nurse, subsequently attended one of her workshops. As a result, the two decided to establish the first ever hospice in their community.
For the first several years the Filipis worked out of the kitchen in their home trying to get the project off the ground. He recalls the words of Kubler-Ross that inspired them to keep going: “Just start it, and don’t worry about the money. If it’s right, it’ll happen.” They established a very active hospice program that to this day continues to thrive.
As medical director and surgeon at the hospice, Filipi had a revelation about the pain that patients experience when they undergo surgery.
“Because I had never undergone surgery myself, I did not really appreciate the pain involved,” he says. “After seeing all the pain that cancer victims encounter in the dying process, I wanted to try to do something to reduce post-surgical pain. It became apparent that doing minimally invasive surgery made sense.”
So charged by this realization, Filipi says, “That’s what I decided to do. Everything I’ve been involved with since then has been related to reducing discomfort.”
It was back in the Midwest where Filipi pursued his goals. He and his wife returned to their home state of Iowa to be closer to their aging parents, and the move proved to be beneficial as he sought new collaborations with surgeons, scientists and medical engineers. In particular, a connection with researchers at Creighton University’s School of Medicine helped shape the direction Filipi began to take. The promise of his early work earned him an appointment with the Creighton School of Medicine faculty in 1991; today he is a full professor.
Filipi’s goal remained the development of new surgical devices that could minimize pain in patients undergoing esophageal and gastrointestinal procedures. While he made great strides in improving minimally invasive and laparoscopic procedures, he became most interested in developing devices that could be introduced through the mouth to repair the junction of the esophagus and stomach.
“The benefit of this approach is that it is done completely on an outpatient basis. Patients go home the same day and by the next day they are recovered,” he says.
Not only does this reduce discomfort, it eliminates hospitalization and many associated costs.
With support and guidance from Intellectual Resources Management, he has patented numerous inventions. In 2005 he partnered with a colleague, and with licensed intellectual property from Creighton, founded a company, SafeStitch Medical Inc. The company, headquartered in Miami, Fla., includes a research and development office in Omaha and is now publicly traded.
“I’ve always been interested in teaching and trying to figure out a better way,” says Filipi. “Inventing is all about taking things that already exist and just putting them together in a different way, or making a little modification in something that already exists.”
SafeStitch Medical’s leading product is the Obesity Device. The three-foot-long flexible tube, less than an inch in diameter, can be used to perform non-invasive bariatric surgery in patients suffering from morbid obesity. Once inserted transorally, or through a patient’s mouth and esophagus, it sutures off a section of the stomach to make it smaller.
The same device can also be used to treat gastroesophageal-reflux disease (GERD), a condition in which a patient’s gastroesophageal junction does not close completely, allowing stomach acid to enter and damage the esophagus. Over 200,000 of these costly procedures are performed each year worldwide. The device is being used in animal trials right now and is slated to move to human trials by 2009.
When asked to reflect on his long and accomplished career, Filipi has this to say: “The most important thing of all is perseverance. That is what it’s all about. In life you will have a lot of failures, but if you keep on going you will enjoy many successes as well.”