Drew Carter

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About

Drew Carter is a health policy and ethics researcher whose work critically examines the intersection of surgical innovation, justice, and healthcare equity. His primary research areas include the ethical implications of emerging medical technologies, health technology assessment, and the equitable distribution of surgical care. Carter's major contributions lie in his rigorous analysis of how new surgical procedures, particularly robotic prostatectomy, have been adopted despite insufficient evidence of superiority over existing methods. His landmark 2016 paper, "Justice and Surgical Innovation: The Case of Robotic Prostatectomy" (19 citations), systematically identifies how such innovations can exacerbate healthcare inequities by concentrating benefits among well-resourced institutions while exposing patients to unproven risks. This work has been influential in shaping discussions around evidence-based adoption of surgical technologies. His subsequent 2017 analysis (5 citations) further documented how robotic prostatectomy proliferated despite lacking robust evidence, highlighting systemic risks of inequity. Carter's scholarship provides essential ethical frameworks for policymakers, surgeons, and health systems navigating the tension between technological promise and patient welfare.