The past month has been eventful and fun! It was great to hear about everyone’s summer experience and the different things they were able to do. We were able to form our teams for the school year and find out our projects. I have been able to enjoy my time outside GMI as well!
For our global based project, Hannah, Matt, and I will be on a team working with the Hospital de Amor’s Nuclear Medicine department in Brazil (https://hospitaldeamor.com.br/). Matt did a great job over the summer defining various needs and how we can approach them.
I will also be working with Hannah for our Houston based project (the class is called Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship - HIE). Mary Feng, who is an MBA student at Rice, and Sanjana Mahapatra, who is a postdoc at Baylor College of Medicine, are also on our on our team. It is pretty awesome how diverse everyone’s background is in the class!
We are currently observing at MD Anderson in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Seeing how these world-class surgeons operate has been amazing. Last week I got to see a hybrid procedure: laparoscopic esophagectomy, with intraoperative J-tube insertion, and thoracotomy with exploration. Probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen, but I digress. Our local project is also in conjunction with the Center for Device Innovation (https://jnjinnovation.com/cdi), who is advising us throughout the process.
This past week, the GMI cohort was able to visit a medical warehouse which contained all types of medical devices and equipment. The warehouse takes in donated items from hospitals and other places. It will be a great resource as we begin brainstorming and throughout the product design/development period. It was pretty awesome to hold the devices which I have seen in action in the OR!
I also have begun working part time at Ictero Medical (www.icteromedical.com) which is one of the start-up companies within CDI. Most of my work thus far has been centered around developing test methods to evaluate design prototypes. I have really enjoyed staying involved and doing design work!
Lastly, I am enjoying life outside of work and school as well! A group of us went to the UT vs Rice football game, and I have been able to go to a couple rugby practices (to get a good workout in). The Rugby World Cup is starting up and although it will be hard to watch a lot of games (with the time change), it has been more enjoyable than watching the Browns so far.
Ellie, Genevieve, and I were able to see Noah Kahan and The Brook & The Bluff in concert which was awesome. With Houston being so big, it's great how many artists tour here.
I am excited for our projects to continue to progress as well as our classes outside of GMI. Point of Care Diagnostics has been very interesting, and I will try to talk about it more in the next post!
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