Welcome to Grad School
One of the most amazing and challenging aspects of GMI revolves around the program’s emphasis on condensing the medical device design process into a year’s program. I have gained significant insight into what the medical device industry is like. I even attended a lecture solely dedicated to FDA regulation and understood most of the terminology that was being thrown around. Although listening to someone talk about all sorts of regulatory acronyms and jargon is not something you would typically see in a TED talk, at its core, to be in the medical device space, it is essential that we as engineers understand the importance of complying to FDA regulatory standards. With our design course we defined our business model as well as our regulatory and reimbursement strategies. If you flashback to my last blog post, you’ll notice that our group went from having this interesting idea pitched to us to having a proposed solution, business strategy, regulatory strategy and reimbursement strategy. We will actually be pitching to investors in a couple weeks and propose these strategies and possibly even get funding if the idea is truly innovative. It’s time to put the big boy pants on, this is grad school, and I’m loving it.
BMES
This past week, I was able to travel with some of the GMIers and Dr. Richardson to Phoenix for the BMES conference. Having not previously been to a conference, I really didn’t know what to expect from this. Being a graduate student who is looking towards industry work, BMES was a little bit of an awkward fit for me. The feel is geared toward academia and of course recruiting students to attend various schools. I wouldn’t say that there is a heavy industry presence at the conference, however, I was able to network with some interesting individuals who had great industry experience and insights. It was motivating to see industry professionals share their experiences in their respective fields and the different obstacles they faced, as I could definitely relate to some of those same obstacles.
Although it was great to network with professionals, I also enjoyed being a part of the Rice booth at BMES. To see all these students show genuine interest in the work we were doing made me feel a little nostalgic. I remember the stress of asking myself what I was going to do after graduating. Should I find a job? Should I go to graduate school? Do I want a Ph.D.? Do I really want to spend that much time in school? I know from personal experience that the transitional process can be a tough one, and I was more than happy to explain to others how GMI resonated with me. Of course, it helps that Dr. Richardson was manning the booth as well, I mean, who could resist working with him, right?
See how interested they are?
Barretos
BMES provided a nice little break from school, however, as you may have become familiar with, the GMI program is frequently on the move. The “Brazil team” composed of Anna, Ryan, and me will be flying to Barretos to work on our implementation projects. Anna and I will be running clinical trials to gain some feedback on the ease-of-use, performance and data retrieval of the RedCap App. Dr. Carlos Silveira was gracious enough to arrange for a few nurses to help in this trial. Another goal we want to reach from this trip is to discuss the manufacturing strategy and business model of our dermatascope. An obstacle that needs to be hurdled is the issue of how to manufacture a lower-volume plastic part in a cost-effective method. After gauging our resources in Barretos, we can come up with concrete strategies and execute them in the upcoming months. I assure you, there will be photos from Brazil on my next blog post!
Barretos, here we come!