About Us

“Simple products designed with cost in mind can help every hospital manage tight budgets and treat more patients.”
– Lawrence Buchan, CEO, Co-Founder

About Us

Who we are

We are a team of motivated professionals committed to providing surgical access to patients worldwide.

Arbutus Medical is named for a distinctive tree; native to the west coast where we are located.

Our Mission

Simplify surgery to reduce costs and help healthcare providers treat patients worldwide

Our Vision

Safe surgery for every patient.

How It Started

In 2015, co-founders Lawrence Buchan, Michael Cancilla, and Elise Huisman worked with orthopedic surgeons from Uganda to find a solution that could bring surgery to low-resource hospitals that couldn’t afford expensive surgical drills. In many developing countries, frequent automobile injuries drive high demand for desperately needed orthopedic surgery, but specialized drills are often unavailable, and manual drills are slow and unsterile. They designed a simple solution: a waterproof, sterilizable cover that turns an inexpensive hardware drill into a sterile surgical device to safely perform surgical bone drilling.

This innovation led to Arbutus Medical growing its offerings and creating a line of surgical devices that are FDA-cleared, and licensed by Health Canada. We continue to innovate to reduce the cost of healthcare around the world.