CMR Surgical

Mark Slack is a British-South African medical doctor, academic surgeon and entrepreneur who is co-founder and chief medical officer of CMR Surgical, one of the UK’s most promising med-tech companies developing robotic systems for minimally invasive surgery. Born and educated in South Africa, Slack trained in medicine and specialised in gynaecology, graduating with the Gold Medal for Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the Fellowship of the College of Medicine of South Africa.

After completing his clinical training and taking on academic roles, including at Cambridge and various international institutions, Slack became increasingly interested in how surgical technology could enable wider adoption of keyhole surgery. He noted that despite the clinical benefits of such techniques, uptake remained relatively low due to the skill barrier and equipment limitations. In 2014 he co-founded CMR Surgical in Cambridge, working with engineers, robotics experts and clinical colleagues to build the Versius surgical robot.

Under his leadership the company achieved unicorn status, raised major funding rounds (including a $660m med-tech round) and attained a multi-billion-dollar valuation. Slack continues to practice clinically and maintains an academic appointment, ensuring his leadership remains grounded in surgical reality. His dual role as clinician-entrepreneur helps CMR maintain deep medical credibility as it expands globally. Today, Mark Slack’s work lies at the intersection of surgery, robotics and entrepreneurship — a merging of patient focus and technological scale-up. He is widely seen as one of the key figures driving the future of surgical automation and minimally invasive care.