Turning Surgeons Into Innovators Without Taking Them Out of the OR

Academic hospitals have all the makings for rich medical device development. They have physicians to identify surgical needs, researchers to test theories, bioengineers to design and create devices and patients to participate in clinical trials. However, disconnect between engineering and surgical departments makes innovation a challenge. So does surgeons' all-consuming job Number One—treating patients. Surgical Innovations, part of the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Surgery and Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, aims to open communication between clinical academic surgeons and bioengineering colleagues. It also gives surgeons a platform to develop life-enhancing and lifesaving medical devices. Launched in 2015, Surgical Innovations draws on the expertise of one of the country's top medical schools for research and primary care. UCSF providers conduct more than 1,300 clinical trials per year. Its research department boasts more than 1,800 active inventions. "Clinical trainees and grad students work closely together," said Surgical Innovations engineering lead Shuvo Roy, PhD. "We also have post-doc engineers who move technology from bench to clinical studies." Surgical Innovations evolved out of UCSF's Pediatric Device Consortium (PDC), which creates and develops devices to improve children's health. Michael Harrison, MD, who founded and leads PDC, pioneered fetal surgery procedures at UCSF in the early 1980s. "There were no devices or tools...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: R & D Source Type: news