Don’t be surprised if you find yourself needing head and neck cancer surgery and your surgeon has an unexpected assistant: a robot. But it won’t be R2D2 or C3P0 from Star Wars. Instead, the modern medical robot is a high-tech tool that surgeons use to perform sensitive tasks in hard-to-reach places. In this episode, Dr. Vivian Wu, a head and neck surgeon at Pacific Neuroscience Institute, takes us into the new world of robotic surgeries. Dr. Wu also tells us about some new tests that can show how successful someone’s cancer treatment has been, without the need for invasive biopsies. She talks about how to prevent and treat Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, which has started showing up in people’s mouths in greater numbers. Dr. Wu also emphasizes the important role a care “village” plays in a patient's treatment and recovery.