COURSE DESCRIPTION: Health technologies such as therapeutics, medical devices, and digital tools have great potential to transform the delivery of healthcare and encourage personalized medicine. This 4-week elective course aims to provide students with an understanding of needs-based innovation biodesign, prototype development and validation, and sustainability through entrepreneurship. Elective participants will pair in teams of 2-3 individuals per team. Team members will work together to complete cases, conceptualize an innovation project, and present an end-of-elective presentation regarding this project. This 4-week elective will give trainees an entrepreneurial-focused perspective regarding the ‘journey’ of commercially viable health technology solutions. The elective will consist of Zoom-based small group sessions (case discussions, topical presentations by experts in the innovation biodesign arena) and didactics (required articles, cases, videos, podcasts)..

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the innovation biodesign process and the importance of health technology innovation, as assessed by: 1) Trainees’ completion of assigned articles, cases, and an innovation project; and 2) Trainees’ feedback/survey and exit interview responses.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of conducting the needs-based innovation process, market assessments, competitive landscape analyses, and SWOT analyses.
• Students will prepare for and present an end-of-elective pitch presentation.

REQUIRED MATERIALS:  

• Computer with an internet browser for accessing the assignments and participating in the virtual class sessions.

PREREQUISITES: None

SUITABLE FOR 1ST YEAR STUDENTS: No. Open to 3rd year graduate students and higher and postdocs.

STUDENT ASSESSMENTS: Three articles and cases will be discussed in each discussion session. Each team will present a case and article summary and will be constructively critiqued by the other students. Each 20-30-minute presentation will be PowerPoint-based and will be followed by an interactive discussion by the entire group of elective participants. Grades will be based on an understanding of the articles and cases as demonstrated by the clarity of presentations and quality (i.e. thoughtful contributions and questions and answers) of discussion.

Students will be expected to attend and participate (i.e. present, contribute to the discussion when not presenting) in all sessions. Those missing a session will need to review the session recording within 1 week of the session and submit a 1-page summary of the articles and cases assigned for that missed session.

Final Grade:
60%: Completing and demonstrating an understanding of the articles and cases, as demonstrated by thoughtful presentations and discussions during the sessions.
40%: Final presentation – grade will be based on the quality of the presentation slides and presentation delivery and adequately answering questions from elective participants and the course leader(s)

The final grade (Honors, Pass, Fail) will consist of student contributions aggregated among the sessions and will be submitted by the course leader(s) following the end of the course. A grade of honors can be achieved if students exceed the course expectations, for example, by identifying additional articles related to the discussion topic. Students will receive a grade of fail if they do not adequately present the cases or articles or final presentation and if they do not meaningfully participate in the interactive discussions.

CREDIT HOURS: 0.5