In recent years, there has been a groundswell of
interest among Johns Hopkins'
biomedical
engineering students to move straight into industry
rather than pursue the traditional route of medical school
or graduate-level research. Last year alone, more than 12
medical device companies came to the Homewood campus to
recruit JHU students, according to Aditya Polsani, an
industrial liaison associate for the Department of
Biomedical Engineering. In contrast, only two such
companies visited campus the year before.
"The recruiters increasingly want these young people
with design skills," Polsani said. "And the students have a
lot of passion for this type of work. A lot of what is
driving this interest is their desire to develop devices
that might change the world and improve health care for
all."
To help meet the demand for this field, a group of
Homewood students this past fall founded the Hopkins
Medical Device Network to encourage the invention of
creative and innovative solutions to current medical
problems and to provide opportunities for long-term
team-based projects.
Specifically, the student-run organization seeks to
facilitate collaborations between clinicians and students
in the area of medical device development. The HMDN wants
to expose participants not just to the design and
manufacture of a device but also to the business side of
its development.
In November, HMDN held its first event, a social mixer
that drew nearly 100 interested students and faculty; to
date, nearly 200 students, both undergraduate and graduate,
have signed up as members. Group organizers said they
anticipate that the number will get even higher next month,
when the HMDN will host another mixer with several
department chairs and other faculty members expected to be
in attendance.
Yinfei Xu, a founding member of HMDN and a sophomore
biomedical engineering major, said a primary stimulus for
the group's creation was the growing demand among students
for networking opportunities with faculty and professional
organizations. "And many students wanted to become involved
with projects that have long-term potential," Xu said.
Specifically, the HMDN will look to network students
with engineers, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and venture
capitalists.
Some teams will come together to work on existing
projects, Xu said, whereas others will start from
scratch.
"Through our group, the School of Medicine faculty
will have a network where they can recruit students to work
on their projects," Xu said. "We have also been approached
by several graduate students who have ideas for a device
but don't have the resources or contacts. Our upcoming
mixer is aimed at pooling teams with common interests and
goals."
The HMDN spring mixer will be held at 6 p.m. on
Thursday, April 6, in Levering Hall's Great Hall, Homewood
campus. The event will serve to facilitate the formation of
medical device teams and connect them with faculty members
experienced in related fields. In addition to biomedical
engineering majors, the organizers hope to attract students
from other fields, such as the life sciences and
business.
Throughout the rest of the year, HMDN plans to host
brainstorming sessions with clinicians at The Johns Hopkins
Hospital on medical device development projects, and
workshops where participants can gain hands-on experience
in product design. The group also plans to bring in
industry representatives to speak on various aspects of
product development, including how to write a winning
proposal that can receive financial backing.
Polsani, HMDN's adviser, said that students who
participate will get to learn the various aspects of
medical device entrepreneurship, such as market research
and intellectual property management.
Polsani, who specializes in technology transfer and
commercialization, said that several clinicians at the
medical campus have already expressed keen interest in
partnering with HMDN members.
"Clinicians will now have the opportunity to see their
medical device ideas fructify with the support of a large
and highly motivated pool of students," Polsani said.
"However, there is still a lot of work for us to do in
terms of bringing in a number of faculty from various
departments for our common vision, developing new medical
device technologies."
Students or faculty who would like to participate can
e-mail hmdn@jhu.edu or
go to www.hmdn.org to
learn more.
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