Hola/Hi everyone! It almost feels like we’ve been here a month, but it has only been 4 days since I have arrived in Costa Rica, graduated from University, toured local universities and hospitals, and started a course on bio-design (in that order!).
Last Tuesday we started GMI-Bootcamp at Rice in Houston and sprinted through an overview of what exactly our summer in Costa Rica and the year at Rice would look like. Bootcamp itself only last two days, but the amount we learned not only about ourselves, but about each other and industry made it feel like quite a bit longer. With Dr. Van Kleeck’s help, we delved into the specifics of each of our personality traits and strategized the best ways to work with one another throughout the year. It was extremely fun getting to know each other’s personality types and got us excited to work together, but I think it was Dr. Van Kleeck’s crash course in how-to-intern that really motivated me for our summer internship. This summer, I will be working in the Research and Development division of Establishment Labs, a medical technology company with current focuses on aesthetic technologies.
Our first full day in Costa Rica brought us across the country, from our apartment in San José, to the west coast, and all the way up to Liberia. We met with our partners at Universidad Invenio at the beginning of the day to explore the previous GMI cohort’s prototype of DialOasis. Many male Costa Ricans suffer from kidney problems due to a variety of environmental factors in the countryside and require constant peritoneal dialysis (as the more effective hemodialysis is not an affordable expense in this region). Unfortunately, many of those patients need to undergo dialysis at home but cannot due to an increased risk of infection. DialOasis is, in theory, a low-cost, locally sourced and clean cubicle where dialysis can occur without risk of infection. Because the design for this is supposed to be simple and intuitive, our first task was to construct the prototype with only a picture of the finished product. It is a great product, but we have a few changes we would like to implement to make it simpler and more cost-effective. To really outline the importance of the project, we visited the nephrology unit at the Hospital in Liberia where we got a firsthand look at the processes of peritoneal dialysis. Driving across the country, we learned so much about the state of healthcare in Costa Rica and how financially accessible it is to each citizen. The DialOasis prototype was our first chance to actually complete a task as a team and brainstorm future strategy in the context of developing healthcare. I am looking forward to learning much more about device design process and working with our team to define its role here in Costa Rica.
On Saturday, we began our bio-design short course concerning the development of med-tech in a global context. We went in-depth into the logistics of Costa Rican healthcare, and then transitioned into defining needs in the medical industry and strategized how to solve those. We were split up into groups, each assigned with a clinical problem, and have since been left to our own devices to conduct background research. We will dive further into the topic when we meet with Costa Rican students later in the short course.
Yes, we have squeezed so much into only a few days, but it hasn’t all been work! Early on Sunday morning, a few members of our group drove out to the mountains surrounding San Jose to experience some of Costa Rica’s famed eco-tourism. We explored La Paz Waterfalls where we played with hummingbirds, swam in lakes and relaxed in the natural beauty of the surrounding country.
I am thoroughly enjoying the company of my work colleagues, to say the least, and have no doubt that that feeling will continue to grow.
Pura Vida!