Site and Clinical visits from summer 2017
The BIE Program is comprised of a twoprong immersion approach: (1) clinical immersion visits – visits to clinical specialty labs wherein teams fully embed with the clinicians and (2) site visits – visits by the full BIE group to both observe and interview lead and expert users. Clinical immersion visit sites were chosen to span a wide range of clinical specialties and clinical environments.
Check out BIE blog on Medium for more details about the visits.
Clinical Visits
Center for Independent Living
An informed and thoughtful discussion with CIL staff about: what are major considerations with their mission, what are major unmet needs they view during their work, and how engineering/technology is helping today.
Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI)
At CHORI, a center for thalassemia and sickle cell disease, the BIE group visited the Iron Overload and Bone Density Clinics at the HEDCO Health Sciences Building. Dr. Marcela Weyhmiller lectured on the Iron Overload program, focusing on the clinical presentations, treatments, and outcomes associated with Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia patients treated at the clinic. Dr. Ellen Fung lectured on the Bone Density Health Clinic and the impact of effective nutritional and supplemental care in pediatric years to reduce the onset of geriatric osteoporosis. The two led the team on a tour of the SQUID and DXA machines.
Mobile Dental Clinic
Small groups toured the mobile clinic truck with Clinical Program Manager Chris Grazzini during one of its stops. The BIE group learned about the unique collaboration between John Muir Health, La Clinica de la Raza, Brookside Medical Care, Contra Costa Health Services, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bay Area to provide free dental services to low-income patients throughout Contra Costa.
San Francisco General Hospital Toxicology Laboratory
Teams attended the grand rounds of the toxicology department, and received both laboratory tours and hospital tours hosted by its Chief Dr. Alan Wu. They learned about the important role of the labs in influencing most medical decisions, mass spectrometry, point of care diagnostics, and the social challenges faced with combating street drug use. They also learned about how the emergency department works and how lab scientists analyze samples. Dr. Wu presented them with different biomedical devices to teach them about biotechnology and entrepreneurship.
San Francisco General Hospital Ward 86 HIV clinic
The visit was hosted by attending physician Dr. Susan Coffey. Five distinguished faculty and staff, including Director Dr. Gandhi, gave brief talks encompassing SFGH HIV prevention, treatment, and retention initiatives for the underserved populations in SF and in rural villages in Africa. The group received a tour of Ward 86 afterwards.
San Francisco VA Medical Center’s Epilepsy Center
BIE teams met with Dr. John Hixson who provided them with a comprehensive lecture on epilepsy diagnostics and treatments followed by a tour of the clinic. They discussed the current standard of care and treatment in epilepsy, touring the inpatient monitoring unit and learning about potential for continuously monitoring wearables to diagnose and monitor epilepsy.
UCSF Gastrointestinal Surgery Center
Teams watched Dr. Jonathan Carter and his team perform various surgeries, including: an open hernia surgery; laparoscopic conversion of gastric sleeve to gastric bypass; a Da Vinci inguinal hernia repair; a Da Vinci ventral hernia repair; a manual laparoscopic gallbladder removal; and an esophagogastrectomy using a Da Vinci laparoscopy on the stomach followed with open thoracic surgery
UCSF Liver Disease Clinic
Dr. Danielle Brandman, gave an overview of liver disease including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cirrhosis that would necessitate transplantation. The BIE group also learned about the process that determines whether a patient is eligible to receive a transplant. After the presentation, Dr. Brandman brought them to the endoscopy suites in the hospital, where they were able to witness a live procedure.
UCSF Neuro Interventional Radiology
BIE teams several different procedures with Dr. Steven Hetts and his colleagues, including a coil embolization and cerebral angiograms. They learned how modern medicine addresses various vascular abnormalities; understand the impact of neurointerventional radiology in treating various diseases and conditions; and consider latent and manifest needs involved in this field.
Site Visits
BriteLab
Hosted by CEO Robert de Neve, the BIE group learned about BriteLab’s services in nearly all aspects of the design process involving electromechanical and optical hardware from concept to manufacturing. the CEO emphasized the balance between intellectual property and intellectual assets (IP vs. IA) in achieving business success.
Diassess
Hosted by John Waldeisen, the BIE group heard about the specific areas of their company, including engineering, assay development, and clinical and regulatory affairs. In addition to their specialized fields, the Diassess team also highlighted the benefits and challenges that come with working at a startup.
IDEO Design for Health
The BIE group visited IDEO and met with Dr. Farzad Azimpour, who highlighted several of IDEO’s projects as he gave us a tour of the office space, machine shop, and toy lab. The visit concluded with a presentation on the design process and a Q&A session.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.
The group was given an introduction of the research and design process of the da Vinci Surgical System by Simon Dimaio. This was followed by a demo of the da Vinci and a tour of the manufacturing facility by Dale Bergman.
MedShare
A MedShare employee gave an introduction of the organization’s role in reducing medical waste by shipping unused supplies and useable medical equipment to hospitals and clinics abroad, and led a tour of the distribution warehouse. The BIE group was challenged in a team-based interactive activity to learn and present on specific medical equipment and the implications of sending them abroad.
Scandic Springs, Inc.
The BIE group met with company president Hale Foote who talked to them about prototyping and design for manufacturing. He then gave a tour of the facilities, showing the different types of parts created by the company and manufacturing devices that they used. After the tour, he gave tips on manufacturing in bulk and how to work with different businesses.
UCSF Interventional Radiology Research Lab
The BIE group joined Dr. Steven Hett’s lab meeting, where Dr. Hetts gave presentations on a chemotherapy filtration device and the benefits of multimodality suites for endovascular image-guided stroke interventions. They then toured the lab space, including the animal imaging room and laser lithography lab.