ENDOVISION
Advancing endoscopic technology to cure digestive tract disease and cancers.
Dr. Kenneth Binmoeller Received
Prestigious Rudolf Schindler Award
Dr. Kenneth Binmoeller was honored with the Rudolf Schindler Award on May 3, 2026, the highest recognition in gastrointestinal endoscopy. This award celebrated his pioneering contributions to interventional endoscopy, including innovations such as LAMS (AXIOS), underwater EMR, and EUS-guided therapies. His work has helped transform advanced procedures into widely accessible techniques used by physicians around the world.
Endovision's Founder
Kenneth F. Binmoeller, MD, is recognized nationally and internationally as an authority and leader in advanced endoscopic procedures and endosonography. He has been performing complex interventional endoscopic procedures since the late 1980's and has authored more than 200 publications and several books. Dr. Binmoeller is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG), the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (FASGE), and the Japanese Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Society (FJGES). In 2013 the ASGE honored Dr Binmoeller with the prestigious Master Endoscopist of the Year Award.
In 2020 Dr Binmoeller received the Gene and Lyn Overholt Endowed Lecture Award.
Dr Binmoeller is the founder and Director of Interventional Endoscopy Services (IES) at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Founded in 2001, this was the first center of its kind dedicated to the practice and advancement of therapeutic endoscopy. IES has become the premier referral center in Northern California and greater region for endoscopic alternatives to surgery. Patients from across the U.S. and abroad seek endoscopic care at IES.
Dr Binmoeller lists three career-long passions: Endoscopy, Innovation, and Teaching. Endoscopy is the overriding passion that fuels the rest. He is a "universal endoscopist" with expertise in all aspects of interventional endoscopy. His daily practice inspired innovation to improve outcomes for his patients and enable new procedures. He holds over 50 patents for novel endoscopic technologies.
Several of Dr Binmoeller’s inventions have developed to successful commercial products that benefit patients around the world. His first patent, filed in 1998, was for an automated device for endosonography-guided tissue sampling. The patent was assigned to the Olympus Medical Corporation for development and global commercialization of the NA-11J-KB Powershot™ needle. Dr Binmoeller founded his first company, Xlumena Inc, in 2004 around a portfolio of inventions for EUS-guided translumenal therapy. Xlumena was acquired in April 2015 by Boston Scientific, which has enabled the global commercialization of the AXIOS lumen-apposing stent™*. (Disclosure: Dr Binmoeller is a paid educator and trainer for Boston Scientific, but receives NO compensation for commercial product sales).
Dr Binmoeller is the founder of several start-up companies developing devices with established proof-of-concept:
1. EndoSphere Inc. Created around a group of patents that enable physiologic treatment of obesity and metabolic diseases. EndoSphere’s Satisphere™ duodenal implant is currently in clinical trials.
2. Endeau Inc. Developing devices and techniques for water-aided ("underwater") endoscopic procedures.
3. KBSolutions Inc. Developing a novel endoscopic tissue closure device.
Because innovation can only disseminate to benefit patients through teaching, Dr. Binmoeller considers teaching the most rewarding of his passions. He has trained and mentored endoscopists from all corners of the world. In 2002 he started a postgraduate International Scholar’s Program in Advanced Endoscopy. His center at CPMC hosts the annual New Frontiers course with live demonstration of new procedures that is transmitted to a large conference center and globally over the internet.
Short biography:
Dr. Binmoeller's training and professional positions have been split between the United States and Europe. He attended medical school at the University of Freiburg in Germany and the University of Bern in Switzerland, followed by internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and gastroenterology fellowship at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. He held University appointments at the CHR Cimiez in Nice, France (1990-1991) , University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany (1991-1998), and UCSD Medical Center in San Diego (1998 to 2001). He is currently Director of the Interventional Endoscopy Services at CPMC in San Francisco
Digestive tract cancers are the deadliest of all cancers.
But - if detected early - are also the most curable.
With endoscopic tools, through the flexible endoscope, from the inside.
No surgery. No hospital stay. Minimal recovery time.
Why Endovision?
Our mission: Promote and advance endoscopic technology to cure digestive tract disease and cancers.
Endovision offers an alternative physician-driven pathway for device innovation through a non-profit “incubator” model. Importantly, the non-profit model removes all potential conflicts-of-interest inherent to industry and investor-sponsored ventures. The goal is to provide endoscopists around the globe with an easily accessible, practical pathway to incubate "better way" ideas.
Endovision is non-biased, which means the value of the idea is defined solely by the potential benefit to the patient. Prototypes are generated by Endovision’s engineers specialized in the gastrointestinal device space and tested in bench-top and animal models to establish “proof-of-concept”. Once established, devices are licensed to industry for commercialization.
Historically, the main role of flexible endoscopy has been diagnostic. This is changing with the development of new endoscopic devices and procedures that are replacing surgery. The most exciting are devices that enable the curative removal of cancerous and pre-cancerous growths while maximally preserving healthy tissue anatomy and physiology. With early detection, digestive tract cancers - currently the most common and deadliest worldwide - can be eradicated with endoscopic therapy.
True paradigm shifts in endoscopic treatment are occurring, but these shifts need a constant infusion of innovation. New procedures require enabling tools. The traditional pathways for device development has been through either a med-tech “start-up” or an existing large device company.
Over the past decade there has been a steady erosion of both pathways due to changes in the economic climate of health care. Both start-ups and device companies depend on substantial investments (venture capital or profits from sales, respectively) for device development. Investment sources are dwindling. Only those innovations that are expected to generate a very high return on investment receive funding. This discriminates against innovations that serve smaller patient populations or have uncertain market potential. Because interventional endoscopy is constantly reinventing itself, future progress is threatened at its core.
Video of the week
Dr. Kenneth Binmoeller Receiving and Accepting
Prestigious Rudolf Schindler Award
The Endovision solution
Endovision offers an alternative model for unbiased device develoment that is physician-driven and patient-centered.
Educating the general public
Promote appreciation of the high incidence and mortality of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract and digestive organs and the importance of early cancer detection for endoscopic cure.
Training of healthcare providers
Disseminate the latest advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy to physicians, nurses, and related health care personnel. Find provider education opportunities here.
Support Endovision
Countless patients have benefitted from the advancements and we are determined to extend the reach to more patients, as well as the general public. Donate here.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a short list of our most frequently asked questions. If you have want to submit a question, post it here.
Endovision's Devices
Devices conceived or selected for development by Endovision
should meet the following 4 prerequisites:
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Novel: meeting a need not addressed by current technology.
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Simple: Design should be technically straightforward, intuitive, and simple enough to be performed by the community provider.
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Easy: Deployment of the device to achieve the desired therapeutic outcome should be easy and quick, ideally within a time frame of 30 minutes. Use of the device should be easy to learn without the need for specialized training.
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Cost effective: Endoscopic therapy should be inherently cost effective compared to the costs of surgery and hospitalization.