Engineer Better Medicines

As a Grand Challenge Scholar, I hope to pursue medical innovation to improve patient outcomes and create change in a tangible way. I am particularly interested in regenerative medicine and medical devices. I have done research on lipid based nanoparticles and lipid modified hydrogels for better wound healing in the brain and skin. We aim to maximize brain cell regrowth after a stroke by supplying the brain with the required compounds for regeneration. I am also researching other methods to improve stoke outcome, through portable IR instrumentation device for earlier differentiation between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in order to treat the patient sooner, resulting in lower brain cell death. I hope to continue exploring both areas and the intersection between them.

Through volunteering in rural areas in the US, I have become more aware of the problem of access to medical technologies and how devices can be produced to be compact and transportable. I spent last summer working in rural hospitals in Guatemala as a BMET with Engineerin World Health. This expereince not only tught me about the practical aspects of designing and using medical devices, but also made me aware of the real challenges faced by docotrs and nurses in these environments: lack of personnel, no access to disposable components of equipment, lack of stable power sources, missing probes from devices and many more. With this expereince,  I hope to contribute to the design of medical devices that address these simple challenges and can be easily used in rural enivornments.

As an aspiring physician scientist, I have also become aware of the lag between the discovery and development of medical innovation and implementation of them. By interacting with engineers, physicians and other like-minded undergraduates, I hope to learn more about the issues behind this slow progression in the field, and what needs to change to solve the grand challenges facing us more effectively.

Ultimately, as a GCS, I aim to develop a deeper understanding of the gaps in medical innovation and implementation. I hope to develop a global mindset when tackling engineering problems and combine my interests in service, health and research to engineer new medicines.