Dr. Mani Menon

We had a 30% complete unemployment and a 50% underemployment rate. 40% of the patients I saw were African-Americans. We had... an HMO that was capitated, and we had computerized medical systems long before any other place, any other hospital in the country had it. And so when I searched the medical data, I searched it, Ashutosh Tiwari, who was my fellow, searched it for me.

What we found was that the survival rates were lower in the African Americans than in the Caucasians. But when we adjusted it for the type of treatment they had, A confounder that we could not exclude was that African Americans overwhelmingly chose to have radiation therapy as opposed to radical prostatectomy. And when I talked to them, it was two things.

What we found was that the survival rates were lower in the African Americans than in the Caucasians. But when we adjusted it for the type of treatment they had, A confounder that we could not exclude was that African Americans overwhelmingly chose to have radiation therapy as opposed to radical prostatectomy. And when I talked to them, it was two things.

What we found was that the survival rates were lower in the African Americans than in the Caucasians. But when we adjusted it for the type of treatment they had, A confounder that we could not exclude was that African Americans overwhelmingly chose to have radiation therapy as opposed to radical prostatectomy. And when I talked to them, it was two things.

One is they were worried about the Tuskegee experiment that they would be experimented on. But a lot of them, these were assembly line workers, they were brought up with the concept that if you cut someone open and expose the cancer to air, the cancer would spread. And no matter how much I tried talking with them, I could not break that.

One is they were worried about the Tuskegee experiment that they would be experimented on. But a lot of them, these were assembly line workers, they were brought up with the concept that if you cut someone open and expose the cancer to air, the cancer would spread. And no matter how much I tried talking with them, I could not break that.

One is they were worried about the Tuskegee experiment that they would be experimented on. But a lot of them, these were assembly line workers, they were brought up with the concept that if you cut someone open and expose the cancer to air, the cancer would spread. And no matter how much I tried talking with them, I could not break that.

I thought maybe they didn't trust me because I was in black. And so I recruited people from that background, from that community to go and talk with them. But they still were afraid of being cut open.

I thought maybe they didn't trust me because I was in black. And so I recruited people from that background, from that community to go and talk with them. But they still were afraid of being cut open.

I thought maybe they didn't trust me because I was in black. And so I recruited people from that background, from that community to go and talk with them. But they still were afraid of being cut open.

Given this health care system with equal access to health care and complete follow-up, because this was a capitated HMO and you didn't have to pay to get the thing, African-Americans, stage for stage, still did worse than non-African-Americans. We had a large Arab-American population and a large Caucasian population, and the overall survival and the cancer-specific survival were better than that.

Given this health care system with equal access to health care and complete follow-up, because this was a capitated HMO and you didn't have to pay to get the thing, African-Americans, stage for stage, still did worse than non-African-Americans. We had a large Arab-American population and a large Caucasian population, and the overall survival and the cancer-specific survival were better than that.

Given this health care system with equal access to health care and complete follow-up, because this was a capitated HMO and you didn't have to pay to get the thing, African-Americans, stage for stage, still did worse than non-African-Americans. We had a large Arab-American population and a large Caucasian population, and the overall survival and the cancer-specific survival were better than that.

And I got the idea that if we developed a minimally invasive surgery, maybe I could walk to them and say, listen, I'm not exposing your cancer to air. You know, I'm putting in a camera and taking the thing out and putting it in a bag. There's no exposure of cancer to the air. Why would you consider that? And that turned out to be correct. That's fascinating.

And I got the idea that if we developed a minimally invasive surgery, maybe I could walk to them and say, listen, I'm not exposing your cancer to air. You know, I'm putting in a camera and taking the thing out and putting it in a bag. There's no exposure of cancer to the air. Why would you consider that? And that turned out to be correct. That's fascinating.

And I got the idea that if we developed a minimally invasive surgery, maybe I could walk to them and say, listen, I'm not exposing your cancer to air. You know, I'm putting in a camera and taking the thing out and putting it in a bag. There's no exposure of cancer to the air. Why would you consider that? And that turned out to be correct. That's fascinating.

There was no business proposal. These guys were too smart. I did come up with the business proposal to do robotic surgery, but I had to preface it by saying nobody had done it. There were 19 robots, 18 robots in the world. This would have been the 19th robot. All 18 robots were in cardiac surgery departments. No cardiac surgeon had gotten it to work.

There was no business proposal. These guys were too smart. I did come up with the business proposal to do robotic surgery, but I had to preface it by saying nobody had done it. There were 19 robots, 18 robots in the world. This would have been the 19th robot. All 18 robots were in cardiac surgery departments. No cardiac surgeon had gotten it to work.

There was no business proposal. These guys were too smart. I did come up with the business proposal to do robotic surgery, but I had to preface it by saying nobody had done it. There were 19 robots, 18 robots in the world. This would have been the 19th robot. All 18 robots were in cardiac surgery departments. No cardiac surgeon had gotten it to work.

Prostate cancer was the furthest from the company's viewpoint. They had no idea that this would work, but I wanted to try it. And he said, sure. And I said, well, don't you want a business plan? So he said, you just told me that nobody's done this before. You don't know whether it will work. The company doesn't think it's going to work. What kind of a business plan are you going to give me?