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Clinicians

Clinician involvement

Engineering Innovation in Health (EIH) promotes interdisciplinary collaborations between engineers and a wide range of clinicians with the goal of developing technical solutions to pressing challenges in health care.

We invite any health care professional to submit an unmet health challenge. Previous EIH projects have involved more than 100 clinicians, with diverse training and specialties, including medical doctors, surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, dentists, pharmacists, and pathologists.

Involvement

Submitting your unmet need

The EIH process starts with submitting an unmet health challenge and ultimately ends with a working prototype solution, which can take the form of a device, process, or application.

It takes only a few minutes to submit your initial unmet challenge via the Clinical Project Application. The applications asks you to describe the unmet health challenge, how the challenge is currently addressed, and your vision for how the project might move forward.

Selection process

In late summer (August/September), EIH invites a select group of submissions to give a reverse pitch, describing their unmet needs to our selection committee. The projects that the committee selects move forward in the first phase (October-December) that focuses on deep and holistic understanding of the unmet health challenge.

We often receive more than 50 submissions each year. Typically 10 to 15 projects are invited to participate in the autumn quarter class, and 6 to 8 projects move forward during winter and spring quarters for full development.

Time commitment

The submitting clinician (or team of clinicians) will form a team with engineering students and faculty. Autumn quarter requires roughly 1 to 3 hours per week of clinician time plus attendance at the Fall Showcase in December. If your project is selected for full development during winter and spring quarters (January–June) the time commitment will increase marginally.

There are no direct costs to the participating clinicians; however, we always welcome direct support to the program from individuals, departments, and industry.

 

Submit a health challenge

 

Benefits

Prototype solution and intellectual property

If your project is selected for full development, you will receive the solution to your health challenge in the form of a working prototype (device, process, app) in June. You and your team will submit the invention to CoMotion for further consideration for a U.S. patent application. A large percentage of EIH projects have pursued patent applications.

Preliminary data and comprehensive report

You will receive a comprehensive report that covers the background of the unmet need, the existing approaches and technologies that address the challenge, the regulatory pathway, preliminary market opportunity, and background intellectual property, as well as several solution designs and their preliminary data.

Future opportunities

The solution and report provides an abundance of opportunities to move the project forward:

  • Submit a patent for the innovation.
  • Use the report information and preliminary data gathered for subsequent publications and grant applications.
  • Evaluate the innovative solution in the clinic (with appropriate IRB and FDA considerations).
  • Begin the process of spinning out a start-up company.

Sample projects

For a full list of previous projects, visit the Projects section.

FlushCut »

Nearly 10,000 patients are diagnosed with T4 oral cancer of the lower jaw each year in the U.S. To treat this aggressive form of cancer, the fibula bone is removed from the patient’s leg and reconstructed to replace the affected mandible. The current technique used to reconstruct the mandible from the fibula utilizes tongue depressors to measure and notate where the fibula ought to be cut -- a tedious and time-consuming process for a procedure that can take up to 12 hours to complete and can cost upwards of $100,000. FlushCut is a tool that can be used to aid in the precise cutting of the fibula with three degrees of angular and linear freedom.

 

SleepAssist »

Approximately 50% of patients with obstructive sleep apnea have difficulty tolerating the most effective, first-line therapy, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and other solutions such as mouthguards and surgery have lower efficacy and higher costs and risks. Patients struggle to adhere to CPAP therapy due to the noise, discomfort of the mask, and lack of portability during travel. A solution to treat obstructive sleep apnea that is lower cost and promotes greater adherence would improve management of obstructive sleep apnea.

Load-a-Dose: An Automated Insulin Loading Device »

The proper administration of insulin is imperative for the nearly 422 million adults worldwide that are affected by diabetes. Older populations of diabetes patients are twice as likely to suffer from vision impairment compared to younger patients, and are also more susceptible to dexterity challenges. To address the needs of diabetes patients with limited vision and/or dexterity, Load-a-Dose features an automated insulin loading mechanism, with audio and visual feedback.