BOARDMAN TWP., Ohio - Robotic surgery is the new staple in surgical skills and a general surgeon at Boardman St. Elizabeth's is surpassing her peers. 

Dr. Marie Awad-Alexander recently celebrated her 100th robotic surgery at the campus- the most of any surgeon there. 

"I started doing robotics in 2016. And I actually started doing them downtown, St. E's downtown. So I've been doing them, more than 100 of them, but 100 here at Boardman, as of last week," she explained. 

Dr. Awad-Alexander says that robotic surgery is a booming industry and the future of surgery. And the evidence seems to back her up. 

Worldwide DaVinci type robots performed nearly 900,000 surgeries in 2017. But there are dozens of types of robots- making up for the more than two million robotic surgeries done that year. 

"It's getting to the point where you can do just about anything with a robot," Dr. Awad-Alexander said. 

General Surgery News says robotic surgeries have increased by about 25 percent every year, something we've seen here in the Valley recently. 

Dr. Awad-Alexander explained, "In recent years, just in the past four or five years, in this area specifically in general surgery, it definitely just skyrocketed."

She says she's seen first hand why more surgeons are choosing the robots... 

"So what the robot has done for us is it's more like open surgery. The robot has wrists, so like in traditional laparoscopic surgery you have straight sticks, and so you just work with those. Whereas with the robot you can rotate more and you have more control," she said. 

The process of robotic surgery, specifically with the type of DaVinci Si robot that Dr. Awad-Alexander uses, allows the surgeon to peer into a machine, viewing an amplified 3-D video feed of the robot's movements, while controlling the "arms" of the robot with moving hand controls and foot pedals. 

"With the robot, you don't have to rely on an assistant and rely on what they're doing, because you're your own assistant. You're controlling the camera, you're controlling the arms," Dr. Awad-Alexander explains. 

Despite that, she still says every surgery is a team effort, "I feel like me and my team has really, we really know how to work with each other, the first 20 or thirty cases you're still getting used to each other, you're still doing new cases together. We have a great team of people who all know their role very well." 

Robotic surgery started initially as a smaller practice- "It started off with urologists and gynecologists because it's difficult to get deep into the pelvis. And so it was really helping with small spaces." 

Now surgeons use it for a variety of surgeries. 

"its definitely getting to the point where anything that you can do minimally invasively, we are able to do on a robot," said Dr. Marie Awad-Alexander. 

Everything from hernia repairs, to colon surgeries, lung cancer treatments, and heart procedures, as well as full and partial joint replacements, are being done with the six robots at Boardman St. Elizabeth's,  St. Elizabeth's in Downtown Youngstown, and St. Joseph's in Warren. 

"We're doing bigger, more complicated surgeries laparoscopically and that's why its better, you know we're getting into smaller spaces, you can zoom way in. And with laparoscopic you have one view, this is 3-D the visualization is better, the mechanics are better," explained Dr. Awad-Alexander. 

It's a process she says means less risk and better results for patients. 

"Smaller incisions, less pain," Dr. Awad Alexander said. "I've had patients as soon as two days after surgery they're going home, and their biggest incision is you know, a couple of inches long. It's, it's amazing. You know people feel so much better, so much quicker."

As for the future, Dr. Awad Alexander says it's hard to imagine- but knows that robotic surgery will continue to take off, with newer and bigger surgeries. 

"The big thing is the feel. Haptics is the future of robotics," says Dr. Awad-Alexander. "They claim they're working on it." 

For Dr. Awad-Alexander the future is embedded in her past- following in the footsteps of her father, who is also a surgeon. 

"He's semi-retired and we still do surgeries together," she said. 

And in her own way, Dr. Awad-Alexander has a stake in the future. 

"I have a three year old and she's telling me I want to be a surgeon mommy, and I said ok, you can do it. It's a long road, but it's well worth it," she said. 

A lesson the surgeon herself knows too well. 

"I think I have the best job in the world, to be able to come to work everyday and help people, cure cancer, you know it's amazing. I know it's silly but sometimes I do feel in awe of the things you're able to do as a surgeon. It's a great job, it really is," Dr. Awad-Alexander described. 

Even though as a woman in a male dominated field, she's had to put in her time. 

"It is harder as a woman," she explained, saying that while all of her male peers treat her with the utmost respect, being a woman makes things different. "You have to work a little harder, you know. Because as a woman, you're seen differently than the men. So you gotta be better, you gotta work harder, you gotta be stronger. And you can do it- you just have to keep trying."