Research Project
10240459
Summary In the bioengineering, there is a growing emphasis on the importance of healthcare-related problem identification, ideation, creativity, critical thinking, team-based collaboration, and medical device commercialization. Yet, no systematic education mechanisms are integrated into the bioengineering curriculum to allow biomedical engineering students to identify healthcare-related problems, envision solutions within the constraints imposed by the clinical environment, work in an interdisciplinary inclusive team-based environment, and learn medical device commercialization process. To this end, our overarching objective is to prepare competent biomedical engineers through the creation of holistic medical need-driven design and device commercialization pipelines that expand from the freshman through super-senior years. The holistic medical need-driven design process pipeline consists of 10-week clinical immersion experience (CIE) following by 5-week clinical ideation for design program and innovative design- oriented courses. Our ongoing collaboration with the University of Toledo Medical Center and ProMedica will help to implement CIE seamlessly. The aim in creating a need-driven design process pipeline is to teach crucial design components including healthcare-related problem identification, ideation, design iteration, design constraints identification, and team-based collaboration. The medical device commercialization pipeline consists of intellectual property (protection), patent application, regulatory pathways, market analysis. The proposed research education program will provide an opportunity for almost 1000 students over a five-year period to engage with clinical faculty and industry mentors starting from the freshman through super-senior years. While clinical faculty will help them to identify the clinical needs and possible clinical constraints to be considered in medical device design, the industry mentors will provide perspective and constraints for the production and commercialization of the designed product. Our ongoing relations with industry mentors due to mandatory co-op program will provide sustainable support from the biomedical device industry for the proposed activities.
