HEALTHCARE Engineering Alliance Society

Healthcare Engineering - A College Course 

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Background: Healthcare industry needs to hire engineers from almost all engineering disciplines, such as Chemical, Computer, Electrical, Industrial, Information, Materials, Mechanical, Software, and Systems Engineering. However, most engineers do not have sufficient knowledge to work in healthcare, because most engineering curricula, undergraduate in particular, do not cover healthcare (except for biomedical engineering). Since almost every college engineering curriculum is already jam-packed, there is a need of just one course that can help prepare engineering students for jobs/careers in healthcare. 

 

Objective: To develop a senior/graduate level course aimed at preparing engineering students for healthcare jobs/careers by delivering a broad spectrum of cutting-edge knowledge that engineers can use to improve patient outcomes. 

• Since healthcare engineering is an immensely broad and rapidly progressing field, the course should keep up with the speed and magnitude of emerging technologies in as many areas of healthcare as possible. 

• The course should focus on healthcare issues and problems that need engineering solutions capable of directly benefiting patient outcomes, based on the real-world patient-care experiences and needs of healthcare professionals, particularly clinicians. 

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Challenges: Offering such a course may be challenging to an engineering professor as it is difficult to keep up with such a broad and dynamic field; there is no textbook that can cover all; and engineering professors are usually not familiar with the needs of healthcare professionals in taking care of patients.

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Course Model: A Healthcare Engineering course can be organized by inviting qualified experts to deliver lectures on state-of-the-technology materials related to engineering in healthcare and that can directly benefit patient outcomes. Qualified speakers can be recruited from these groups: 

• Medical Doctors (MDs) active in healthcare engineering and medical technology innovation, particularly those with degree(s) in engineering, who have expertise in both healthcare and engineering, and know what it takes to benefit patient outcomes. 

• Engineering leaders from the healthcare industry, particularly the medical device/technology sector, who are at the forefront of technology that can benefit patient outcomes.  

• Professors of medicine with degree(s) in engineering.

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Lectures: A group of experts have been invited and delivered lectures in a senior/graduate level Healthcare Engineering course. Some of them even provided topics of real-world projects and helped supervise students. These experts along with others who are also well-qualified and interested in serving as guest speakers for similar courses are listed below. University professors can contact us to invite them to their classes, a free service provided by HEALS to both professors and speakers.

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Justin Barad, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon, Founder/CEO Osso VR, San Francisco.

Education: 

• MD, UCLA School of Medicine
• BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of California - Berkeley

Qualifications:

• Built the first leading surgical virtual reality (VR) solution for training and assessing surgeons

• Health & Fitness Technology Board of Directors, Consumer Technology Association

• Editor, Medgadget

Topic: Virtual reality for surgery: a case study of need-based innovation in healthcare

 

Bhaskar Banerjee, MD, AGAF, FACG, Professor of Medicine, Optical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ;  Founder and Chief Executive, Omniscient Imaging, Inc. 

Education: 

• Fellow in Gastroenterology, University of Connecticut 
• Resident in Internal Medicine, University of Connecticut 
• Medical Degree: University of London, United Kingdom 

Qualifications:

• Entrepreneur, inventor 
• Former Gastroenterology Division Chief 
• Research: label-free imaging of cancer and other disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, development of

novel imaging techniques and devices 

• Educator: medical students, internal medicine residents, gastroenterology fellows 
• Research mentor:  Graduate students in Optical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering 

Topic: Engineering Solutions in Endoscopy: the Road to a Successful Clinical Product 

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Kambiz Behzadi, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon, Partner, Tri-Valley Orthopedic Specialists, Inc., Pleasanton, California

Education: 

• MD, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin U-Med & Science
• BS Biochemistry, Pepperdine University

Qualifications:

• 25 years of experience in total joint arthroplasty and ligament reconstruction in hip, knee, and

shoulder

• Inventor, 25 US patents and 1 European patent in orthopedic surgical techniques and tools

Topic: Optimization of orthopedic hip implant insertion method

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Achin Bhowmik, PhD

• CTO & EVP of Engineering, Starkey Hearing Technologies, Cupertino, California

• Adjunct Professor, Stanford University

Education: PhD, Auburn University
Qualifications:

• Pioneer in transforming hearing aids into multifunction health and communication devices (fall

detection, activity tracking, heart rate monitoring)

• TIME Best Inventions
• Board of trustees, National Captioning Institute
• Former Vice President, Intel Corp
• Former Adjunct Professor, University of California - Berkeley
• 200+ publications, two books and 38 patents

Topics:

• Lecture 1: Sense of hearing, auditory perception and cognitive neuroscience
• Lecture 2: Hearing augmentation technologies and the evolution of hearing aids into multisensory health devices

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Ed Chekan, MD, FACS

• Minimally Invasive Surgeon

• Medical Director in medical device

Education:

• Resident, General Surgery, Allegheny General Hospital

• MD, Drexel University
• Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Fellowship, Duke University

• Minimally Invasive Surgery Clinical Fellowship, Duke University
• BS, Biology, Penn State University

Qualifications:

• Board certified & licensed in general surgery

• Practiced both academic (University of Virginia) and private practice surgery.

• Johnson and Johnson – Ethicon Endosurgery, Teleflex, Baxter, Intuitive Surgical

• Medical Device industry full time since 2007 in new product development, mergers and acquisitions,

preclinical/clinical/HEOR research

• Medical education (anatomy, physiology for R&D), patient safety (quality and regulatory)

• 16 medical device patents

Topics:

• The Medical Industrial Complex: Introduction to the history, breadth and characteristics of the unique

& dysfunctional American Healthcare System

• Anatomy for Engineers: Organ systems, physiology, disease processes
• New Product Development: Clinical needs finding & Needs Selection
• Minimally Invasive Surgery

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Uli K. Chettipally, MD, MPH.

• Founder, Sirica Therapeutics.

• Founder, InnovatorMD.

• Director - Health Tech Virtual Accelerator, Founder Institute.

Education: 

• MD, Osmania University
• MPH, UCLA

Qualifications:

• Emergency physician, researcher, author and entrepreneur

Topic: Punish the Machine - The Promise of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare

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Albert K. Chin, M.D., Co-Founder, Pavilion Medical Innovations, San Francisco, California.

Education: 

• MD, General Surgery, University of California - San Francisco
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford
• BS, Mechanical Engineering, MIT

Qualifications:

• Inventor, coronary artery bypass device used in over 2.5 million patients

• 216 US patens

 Topic: An inventor’s approach to medical device design

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​Javier Cortés Cubero, MD, Orthopaedic and trauma surgeon, University of Valencia Hospital, Spain

Education: 

• MD, University of Zaragoza, Spain. 
• PhD, University of Valencia, Spain.
• MS, Traumatology, University of Barcelona, Spain.

Qualifications: 

• Inventor, minimally invasive surgical device & method for displaced intracapsular hip fracture. 
• Specialist trainings: Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery, General and Digestive Surgery, Family and Community Medicine. 

• Doctor for the Spanish Men's Water Polo National Team and Spanish Women's Water Polo National

Team.

Topic: Minimally invasive partial hip replacement system

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Mike Hess, Vice President, Corporate Technology and Innovation at Medtronic, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Education: MS Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University

Qualifications: 

• 30 years experience and innovation leader at the world’s largest medical device company and the first

manufacturer of cardiac pacemaker

• American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow
• 36 patents

Topic: Re-inventing the Pacemaker: the Innovation toward a pill-sized device

 

Christopher Jackson, MD MEng, Cytopathology Fellow, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire

Education:

• Resident, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

• MD, Virginia Commonwealth University

• MEng, Biomedical Engineering, McGill University
• BEng, Mechanical Engineering Hons, McGill University

Qualifications:

• Industry experience with biomedical devices
• Developed novel AI-based cancer diagnostics
• 1 patent

Topics:

• Lecture 1: Medical Statistics
• Lecture 2: Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics
• Lecture 3: Cancer Diagnostics

 

Sachin Junnarkar, Founder at Field Viewers and The Health Lync, Austin, Texas

Educations: 

• PhD, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada

• MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stony Brook University

Qualifications: 

• Entrepreneur, medical devices, industrial and security systems engineering leader 
• Founder, Health Lync. 
• Director of Engineering, R&D, Indev Gauging Systems, Rockford, IL
• Research Engineer, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY

Topic: Healthcare revolution: what it is and what it's not, and engineers’ roles

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​Raj Khalsa, MD, Vascular and Interventional Radiologist, St. Joseph's Hospital, Orange, California

Education: 

• MD, University of California - Irvine, College of Medicine 
• BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California

Qualifications: 

• Program Director, Interventional Oncology, Providence St. Joseph Orange Center for Cancer Prevention

and Treatment

• Chief Medical Officer, Omnigence Corporation, Scientific and Medical Operations Automation
• Research: Investigator on active studies in venous thromboembolism, including site principal

investigator for the CTRACT (Chronic Venous Thrombosis: Relief with Adjunctive Catheter-Directed Therapy) clinical trial

Topic: Evolution in the Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism: a case of engineering solution to healthcare

problem

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​Neil Kulkarni, Vice President of Global Technical Operations – Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson

Education: 

• MBA Business Administration, University of Texas at El Paso 
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Rutgers University

Qualifications: 

• 28 years of experience in the Medical Device industry

• Experience in Research and Development, Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering
• Experience in minimally invasive surgical devices, surgical stapling, advanced energy, wound closure,

biologics and biosurgery products

Topic: Considerations for manufacturing medical devices

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David M. Liebovitz, MD, Associate Vice-chair, Department of Medicine at Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

Education: 

• Resident, University of Chicago, Internal Medicine
• MD, University of Illinois
• BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois

Qualifications: 

• Former Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation
• Former Chief Medical Information Officer at University of Chicago Medicine.  
• Research specialties: clinical informatics, patient safety, clinical decision support, patient engagement,

preserving confidentiality, and predictive analytics. 

Topic: The Promise and Peril of Healthcare Informatics

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Ricardo Londono, MD, PhD

• Artificial Heart Biomedical Engineer, Clinical Engineer, Flight/Patient transport Engineer,

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

• CEO, Organoid Therapeutics;  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Education: 

• MD & PhD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• BS, Electrical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida

Qualifications: 

• Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Organoid, focusing on mass production of artificial organs as the

first line treatment option for patients with end-stage organ disease.

• Artificial Heart Biomedical Engineer, Clinical Engineer, Flight/Patient Transport Engineer, University

of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

• Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Artificial Organs, Tissue Repair, Wound Healing, Medical

Devices, Pre-clinical Studies, and Medical Device Regulation.

Topics:

• Lecture 1: Introduction of concepts for artificial tissues and organs
• Lecture 2: Current challenges for artificial tissues and organs

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Héctor Martínez, PhD, Co-founder and CTO at CELLINK, Gothenburg, Sweden

Education:

• PhD, Biomedical Engineering & Tissue Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

• BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas, Arlington, Texas

Qualifications: 

• Developed novel, cell-specific bioinks for 3D bioprinting of human tissues (cartilage, skin and bone).

• Developed the most cost-effective and true benchtop 3D bioprinter for 3D culture of human-like tissues,

in vitro toxicology models and cancer models.

Topic: Novel cell-specific bioinks for 3D bioprinting of human tissues - cartilage, skin and bone. 

 

Joseph (Jay) McIsaac, MD, MS, MBA, CPE, FASA

• Partner and Director, Integrated Anesthesia Associates, LLC, Hartford, Connecticut

• Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology and Associate Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering,

University of Connecticut School of Medicine

• Senior Member, IEEE

Education:

• BA, Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University
• MD, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
• MS, Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer  Polytechnic Institute
• MBA, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Qualifications: 

• Certified Physician Executive, Certifying Commission in Medical Management

• Fellow, American Society of Anesthesiologists

Topics:

• Lecture 1: Intra-operative hypothermia: a paradigm shift using physics and novel engineering solutions.
• Lecture 2: Challenges and benefits of automating anesthesia.

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Sai Medi, MD, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Hospital & Emergency Medicine, Banner Health, Denver, Colorado.

Education: 

• Residency, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
• M.D., School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
• BS, Houston Baptist University

Qualifications: 

• Co-founder of Respivest LLC, a medical device company for lung diseases
• Co-founder of ModHealth LLC, an urgent care technology company
• Advisor, CareMeridian, Altitude Kidney Health, Doctorpedia

Topics: Medical technology for COVID-19 and chest wall strapping for lung disease

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​Vivek Mohan, MD, Orthopaedic Surgeon at Orthopaedic Spine Institute, Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Education: 

• MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine

• MS, BS, Bioengineering, Cornell University

Qualifications: 

• Fellow, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
• Cellular technologies in the treatment of orthopaedic spine pathologies
• Biomechanical effects of lumbar discography
• Techniques for preventing cord compression in kyphosis correction
• 1500 cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal surgeries for both adult and pediatric patients in the past 10

years

Topics:

• Lecture 1: Basic Spine Anatomy, Pathology, and History of Treatment 
• Lecture 2: Application of Engineering Principles to Spine Surgery 

 

Robert Niichel, Founder & CEO, SmartTab, Denver, Colorado

Education: MS, Biochemistry, University of Colorado at Boulder

Qualifications: Entrepreneur, innovative wireless electronic drug delivery, nanomedicine.  

Topic: The evolution of personalized wireless electronic drug delivery platform: wireless targeted drug delivery

system, oral biologic delivery system, and multi-dose capsule.

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Oluwaseun Omofoye, MD, MS, Neurosurgeon, Tidelands Health, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

Education:

• Fellowship (Neurosurgical Oncology), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Residency, University of California Davis Medical Center
• MD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York
• BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Qualifications: 

• Director of Brain Tumor Program, Tidelands Health, SC
• Experience with Cranial robotics for Brain Surgery
• Research experience on the applications of Biophotonics in diagnosing brain tumors

Topic: Robotics and Engineering Applications in Neurosurgery