*Due to the current COVID19 concerns and difficulty organizing all participants, the Surgery-BME Clinical Innovation Challenge has been postponed until early in the fall semester.
The UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and the UAB Department of Surgery have joined forces to create the BME-Surgery Clinical Innovation Challenge.
The challenge calls for five teams to solve five significant surgical challenges. Each team includes: one surgical resident, one BME graduate student and several undergraduate students.
The challenge takes place over a span of several months, from initial presentations on Nov. 22, 2019 to a final winner announcement happening early fall 2020– final presentations will take place early in the fall semester.
Since the kickoff, teams have been creatively working together over the past few months to find solutions to their selected surgical challenges. In the end, the teams will have a culminating final prototype and presentation, with the hope that their solution could be implemented in healthcare practice. The teams, their selected problem and the team members are listed below:
Team 1: Too many wires and tubes on ICU patients
- Surgery Resident – Lauren Theiss, M.D.
- BME Graduate Student Mentor – Wesley Labarge
- BME Undergraduate Students - Nicole Bentley, Giorgio Esposito, Rawdah Elbahrawi, Heather Thorn
Team 2: Chest Tube Securing Device
- Surgery Resident – Frank Gleason, M.D.
- BME Grad Student Mentor – Danielle Pretorius BME
- Undergraduate Students - Michelle Kehres, Mary-Katherine Love, Ashley Kimbel, Victoria Purdy
Team 3: Increasing Access to Primary Care for Routine Health Maintenance Needs
- Surgery Resident – Cozette Kale, M.D.
- BME Graduate Student – Asher Kahn-Krell
- BME Undergraduate Students – Aakansha Gosain, Baylee Sager, Alan Jesky, Dori McClure
Team 4: Health Literacy Translator
- Surgery Resident – Samantha Baker, M.D.
- BME Graduate Student – Haley Nesmith
- BME Undergraduate Students – Kyla Gabriel, Atharva Vyawahare, Thomas McCutcheon, Arushi Kotru
Team 5: Laproscopy specimen extraction
- Surgery Faculty – George Yang, M.D., Ph.D.
- BME Grad Student Mentor – Molly Buckley
- BME Undergraduate Students – Shawn Dixon, Iliana Colvin, Molly Matthews, Andrew Northway
To compensate for time spent and dedication to solving real surgical challenges, the teams are competing for a cash prize as incentive. First place takes home $2,500, second takes $1,000 and third place will receive $500.