Biomedical Engineering Bioengineering Talent for today and the future
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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Over 40 years of producing top engineers and problem solvers in a rigorous course of study
Knowledge in engineering, biology and medicine. Engage in cross-disciplinary activities to improve human health by integrating the engineering sciences, biomedical sciences and clinical practice.
BME strong engineers with life science training
Strong Foundations - Core Knowledge Cross-Disciplinary Studies
Life Sciences Engineering Bioinstrumentation
Biosensors
Biomechanics
Systems Physiology
Bioinformatics
Neural Engr.
Imaging
Clinical Engr.
Tissue Engr.
Rehabilitation Engr.
Biocomputation
Biomaterials
Signal Analysis
Artificial organs
Biotransport
BME in Industry
Pharma Clinical
Biotech
BME Devices Diagnostics
IT Implants
Electrical Materials Mechanical Software Hardware Computer Verification/ Validation Chemical Biological Tissue Biomedical
BME in
Product Development Design Process R&D Systems Manufacturing
Industry Quality Approvals Clinical Regulatory Sales
BME Careers
The opinions expressed are those of the individuals interviewed and do not necessarily represent the views of the companies listed.
Parika Petaipimol, (BS BME) Process Engineer, Biogen Idec “I rely on both my biology and engineering background”. As a process engineer she transfers the technology into manufacturing and trains the manufacturing associates. Her BME degree provided a great background - “didn’t need as much training to do my job.” “With all the disciplines covered in BME you have the training to be prepared for a lot of positions.” Briana Burgess, (BS BME) Manufacturing Associate in Clinical Purification, Amgen “BME gives me a competitive advantage and has put me ahead of others,” and has allowed her to be “considered for projects that others aren’t.”
Paul Welch, (BS BME) Supervisor, Product Approvals, Stryker Instruments BMEs at Stryker work in safety, manufacturing, R&D, regulatory, quality and throughout engineering. “BMEs have a broader understanding of the medical aspects with a passion for the industry and possess the technical training and ability to do the ME or EE position.” Katy Lyall (BS BME) Clinical Development Engineer, Intuitive Surgical Conducts surgeon preference studies, does procedure development, writes reference guides and trains clinicians and promotes the product. “Problem-based learning in BME helped give me the experience to contact others and seek information.” She “gets surgeon feedback and helps in the development process.”
Scott Goldman (MS BME) Biomaterials Research Manager, Kensey Nash “Because of an understanding of the end use of the product, BMEs can find the right ideas and right approach to solving problems in the medical device field faster, and that means shorter development time, lower development costs and ultimately better clinical acceptance of the products.” At Kensey Nash, BMEs are biomaterial, development, and R&D engineers. Dr. Patrick Cottler, (PhD BME) Senior Research Scientist, Luna Innovations “BMEs see the global picture better.” “Having someone who can understand both sides (engineering and physiology) is very valuable.”
Stephanie Klocke (BS BME) Senior R&D Engineer CR Bard One big benefit of her BME training was the senior design experience. In senior design she was required to have design controls throughout their project and learned QSRs. She “lives and breathes regulatory everyday.” Early regulatory exposure in BME made the transition to work very easy. She knew what had to be done regarding product development. She also feels that “the BME regulatory exposure helps shorten development time.” At Bard BMEs fill roles in regulatory, manufacturing, R&D, clinical, and quality.
Troy Jackson (BS BME, MS EE) Principal Scientist, Medtronic - CRDM
“In the research group you have to be able to take disparate ideas and findings and pull them together into a clinical solution.” The BME background helps with this. “The coops and interns have more productivity out of the box because they have been exposed to the biology. They require less oversight .” “The big benefit of BMEs is that you get someone who has the rigorous engineering attention to detail but also can comprehend and be aware of the big picture.” At Medtronic BMEs fill a number of roles from embedded software, verification and validation to field clinical work.
Industry Perspective
BME - Leaders Adaptable Analytical Communicators
Dedicated
Integrators - Translators Regulatory exposure Global view
Top Academic Achievers
BME in Industry Can help Lower Development Costs Improve Clinical Acceptance of Products
The opinions expressed are those of the individuals interviewed and do not necessarily represent the views of the companies listed.
Biotech and Pharmaceutical “BMEs have a better ability to assimilate information and are able to quickly adapt to a biomedical device industrial research environment.” BMEs “in general are better than other disciplines in teamwork,” as they are “used to incorporating a lot of different areas.” From a regulatory standpoint, “BMEs come into the industry very cognizant of the FDA.“ Dr. Mel Silberklang, (PhD Biochemistry) Chief Scientific Officer, VP R&D Ortec International
Dr. Anthony Ratcliffe, (PhD, Immunology) President and CEO, Synthasome “BMEs are academically high performers.” They are “wellorganized, flexible, and can move through the product development pathway.” Important for small-mid sized companies where workers need to shift positions as a product progresses from an idea to production. “BME is more suited to moving with the product.” Can help reduce training costs and employee turnover, also reduce product development time and cost.
“90% of the effort in the biotech industry in bringing the device to market is the software.” “Computer scientists can program but usually don’t understand the biology.” “BMEs with molecular biology experience are very useful. Most biologist are not quantitatively trained. BMEs are quantitatively trained. The two (engineering and biology) are a dynamic combination. ” “The BME of today is what the biologist needs to be tomorrow.”
Dr. Charles Cantor, (PhD Chemistry) Chief Scientific Officer, Sequenom
Scientists can come up with the innovative hypothesis or tool and make the huge leaps of design but can’t build the device. “Air and gasoline together won’t power a car; you need the engineer to build the engine.”
Clinical “BMEs are the people who are interested in the human application of technology and are often bent more towards the people side than those from more traditional engineering disciplines.”
BMEs “soak up the technical aspect” and want “challenging and interesting work.” BMEs also “tend to make connections with people and as a result tend to change jobs less often.”
“The very thing that drives BMEs is why you want them. They are focused on all the right things beyond just the technology.”
John Davis (BS Liberal Arts) Vice President, Southeast Region, Medtronic Responsible for clinical services in SE Region
Implants/Materials In research at Smith and Nephew, BMEs are hired in mechanical testing, FEA and materials development. BMEs “tend to be more adept at the biologic piece.” Smith and Nephew has a very active intern program that is very important to the company. Of the recent class, “90% of the interns were BMEs.” Laura Whitsitt (MS ME) Vice President Global Research and Innovation Smith and Nephew
Dr. Jeff Gross, (PhD BME) Vice President of Engineering, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (at the time of the interview was Senior Director of Biologic R&D at Medtronic, Sofamor Danek)
The benefit of BMEs is their ability to “understand the functional usage for a device.” This allows them to “assess the design and develop appropriate testing protocols” to ensure product performance. “90% of the battle is defining the project appropriately and asking the right questions.” BMEs can “walk in the clinician’s shoes, can help define projects better, and ask the salient questions.” “Because of their background and exposure to anatomy and physiology, a BME’s immediate impact cannot be underestimated.”
Devices & Diagnostics “In the medical device industry you need biomedical engineers because they have enough of both, physiology and engineering. They are the catalysts for product development; they can properly interface customers with Hani Kayyali engineering.” (MS BME, MBA) BMEs “help make sure that the solution is close to what the market needs.”
President Cleveland Medical Devices Inc.
BMEs provide the system view and understand the clinical applications, “these are all areas that biomeds excel in.”
“The value (in the BME degree) is the breadth of engineering experience. A combination of mechanical, electrical, biological (especially fluid dynamics), and manufacturing engineering combined to create an engineer with SYSTEMs experience.” “People that go into BME understand that the body is a system and bring that knowledge to solving problems.” Rosalie “Lia” Bronson Manager, Software QA Operations Corporate Information Technology Abbott
Kai Thomenius, Ph.D, FAIUM Chief Technologist, Ultrasound and Biomedical GE Global Research “Companies are becoming more competitive and the value of BMEs has risen quite a bit.” In the early days, “it didn’t matter if you fully understood the clinical problem. Today, things are a lot tougher; differentiation of products requires much greater understanding of the clinical application and the needs of the clinical user. This is a great spot for BMEs”. BME is “becoming the bridge between the clinical application and technology.” In his experience “BMEs have to be able to pick up diverse material very quickly; there should be no compromise on technical and clinical skills.”
The immediate future in diagnostic testing is using smaller footprints, smaller quantities of samples and reagents. “Need BMEs to work alongside ME, EE, biologists and chemists to develop new in-vitro diagnostic systems, validate them and integrate them with total laboratory automation systems and other integrated platforms.” “The BME has the full picture, not only in the development process, but also in dealing with implementation and technical issues such as quality control, diagnosing problems and communicating user problems and issues back to the biologists, and core engineers.”
Sidney Aroesty, (BS Psychology) Retired COO, Executive VP Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics
Why hire a BME? “First and foremost, BMEs really represent the cream of the crop of engineering talent with the highest GPAs, SATs, etc.” Second, “the majority of problems in the medical device industry are multidisciplinary in nature, and the complexity of developing medical devices demands a team approach to be successful. BMEs gain a fundamental background and multidisciplinary training that is really important for understanding and developing effective solutions for these problems.” Third, because of their versatility, “BMEs are uniquely able to fill an integrative function on project teams.” Michael Vonesh, Ph.D. W.L.Gore and Associates leader in technology development
Intensive Engineering Preparation Rigorous, Multidisciplinary Curriculum Practical Team-driven Experiences
Talented and Diverse Engineers
Rigorous, Multidisciplinary Curriculum Common threads * 75% of programs require biology, circuits, computing, materials science, instrumentation, transport, statistics and design 90% of programs require Physiology, mechanics 18 hours of specialization (average per program) Common Criteria** – – Design and conduct experiments – Identify, formulate and solve engineering problems – Analyze and interpret data – Design systems – Work on multi-functional teams – Communicate effectively – Life-long learning *Linsenmeier, Gatchell, Harris, VanTH ERC, 2006 study **ABET
Responsive, Innovative Programs Innovative Curriculum bluestream.wustl.edu/WhitakerArchives/innovations/
Practical Experience Design - real world training - multidisciplinary teams - conceptual design - prototyping and testing - intellectual property protection - product market research and marketing - FDA device approval - pre-clinical testing and pilot clinical studies
Undergraduate Design Teams A Novel Device for Ear Tube Insertion Procedures
Challenge: Develop an automated method to insert ear tubes in patients • BME student design teams developed a novel device to expedite surgery and mitigate risk by facilitating one-handed insertion of the ear tube while providing controlled suctioning of middle ear fluid. • Clinically-based project • Patents applied for
Photo by Tom Cogill
University of Virginia Biomedical Engineering design project
Challenge: Gain IV access in obese patients • Developed a fiber optic line in a needle with a custom tip that provided viewing while performing blunt dissection • Clinically-based project • Invention Disclosure Georgia Institute of Technology Biomedical engineering design project
The BME IDEA competition, (spearheaded by the NCIIA with Stanford University Biodesign and the Whitaker Foundation) provides opportunities for BME team-based experience in design, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Student teams are required to submit inventive designs and think through business models and strategies. Students also factor in market requirements and customer needs into product conception and design.
www.nciia.org/bmeidea/
2007: An Excellent Year for BME Innovation! BME-IDEA 2007 Winners •
First place, Rotavirus Vaccination via Oral Thin Film Delivery, Johns Hopkins University. –
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Second place, enLight: Enabling Life with Light, Stanford University. –
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This student team developed a unique vaccine delivery system to take on a virus that kills 600,000 children in the developing world each year. This dry form vaccine will eliminate problems associated with refrigerating and distributing liquid form vaccines in less-developed countries. This novel treatment for Parkinson’s Disease enables the effective and reliable control of neural activity using light. The device combines gene delivery of a light-sensitive ion channel with an implantable optical stimulator to directly and specifically control the neurons affected by Parkinson’s.
Third place, Bioactive Nanopatterned Grafts for Nerve Regeneration, University of California, Berkeley. –
This student team’s novel nanofiber graft enhances and guides nerve regeneration in people suffering from peripheral nerve injuries. The Nano Nerve Graft is a tubular graft composed entirely of nanoscale polymer fibers and loaded with bioactive molecules that provide growth cues for regenerating.
BME – Established discipline, Rapid Growth Growth in undergraduate BME programs 90
Total Programs Accredited
# of Programs
75 60 45
Total Programs
Total Programs
30 15 0 1960
1970
1980
1990 Year
Gatchell, Linsenmeier, CoC, 2/07
2000
2010
Talented GPA = 3.34*
SATs = 1320**
50% of BME undergraduates achieve honors+
* average GPA on 4.0 scale, BS graduates, 26 programs **average freshman SATs out of 1600,19 programs +average percentage 23 programs, honors defined by each institution
Diverse 41% of BMEs are women*
*statistics based on undergraduate students 2006 Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges, ASEE
Engage • • • • • • • •
Full-time talent: BS, MS, PhD graduates Career Fairs Cooperative education and interns Design projects Curriculum development Academic advisory boards Guest lecturers Seminars, research symposiums
Access BS, MS and PhD degree candidates • •
Over 90 Academic programs www.aimbe.org/content/index.php?pid=40 Biomedical Engineering Society www.bmes.org
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Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society www.embs.org
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BME Career Alliance www.bmecareer.org BME-IDEA www.stanford.edu/group/biodesign/bme-idea/
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The BME Council of Chairs gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the participating membership Arizona State Univ. Boston Univ. Bucknell Univ. Case Western Reserve Univ. Catholic Univ. of America Clemson Univ. Cornell Univ. Drexel Univ. Duke Univ. Florida Gulf Coast Univ. Florida International Univ. Georgia Institute of Tech. Illinois Institute of Tech. IUPUI Louisiana Tech Univ. Marquette Univ. Milwaukee School of Engr. New Jersey Institute of Tech. Northwestern Univ. Ohio State Univ. Penn State Univ. Purdue Univ. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rice Univ. Rose-Hulman Institute of Tech. Rutgers Univ. State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook Stevens Institute of Tech. Syracuse Univ. Texas A&M Univ. Tulane Univ.
Univ. of Akron University of Alabama-Birmingham Univ. of California, Berkley Univ. of California, Davis Univ. of California, Irvine Univ. of California, Riverside Univ. of California, San Diego Univ. of Cincinnati Univ. of Connecticut Univ. of Illinois, Chicago Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Univ. of Iowa Univ. of Louisville Univ. of Memphis Univ. of Miami Univ. of Michigan Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Univ. of Pennsylvania Univ. of Pittsburgh Univ. of Southern California Univ. of Texas, Austin Univ. of Toronto Univ. of Utah Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison Vanderbilt Univ. Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Washington State Univ. Wayne State Univ. Western New England College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Wright State Univ.
Additional thanks to the industry representatives, faculty, and students who provided information and comments for this presentation.
Created by Lisa Waples Strategic Recruitment Services, LLC for the BME Council of Chairs
