B. R. Fogg3, J. T. Langell1,2,3,4 1University Of Utah,Department Of Surgery,Salt Lake City, UT, USA 2University Of Utah,Department Of Bioengineering,Salt Lake City, UT, USA 3University Of Utah,Center for Medical Innovation,Salt Lake City, UT, USA 4VA Salt Lake City Health Care System,Center of Innovation,Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Introduction: Joint M.D. programs are becoming increasingly popular as more medical students seek additional professional development training. These programs have direct costs (tuition and living expenses) and opportunity costs (delayed training and compensation). Potential benefits include enhancing future career opportunities and knowledge acquisition in additional fields to increase future professional impact.
Here we present our 6-year experience with BioInnovate, a combined degree program for medical students and residents focused on medical technology innovation and entrepreneurship. BioInnovate is an accelerated 1-year Master of Science track in bioengineering. Students in the program combine their healthcare background with engineering and business training to identify clinical problems and create technology solutions to improve healthcare delivery. The program focuses on experiential education and interdisciplinary teams composed of graduate students with backgrounds in medicine, engineering, business, design and law. The curriculum is based on the complete product development lifecycle including design inputs, design processes, technology verification and validation and the commercial translation process.
Methods: Background and outcomes data was gathered through our program database and an anonymous online survey to assess medical student participant characteristics and program impact, including student academic and entrepreneurial accomplishments. Additional data was collected to assess how the program impacted future career choices and opportunities.
Results:69% of BioInnovate medical students had no previous experience with technology development and only 2 had minor experience with business start-ups. No student had experience with FDA regulations or medical technology reimbursement pathways. On average during their BioInnovate year, students filed 2 patents (range 0-3), raised $37.5k in funding (range $6k-$120k), completed 4 peer-reviewed publications or national academic presentations on their BioInnovate work (range 1-6) and all filed at least 1 IRB clinical trial applications. Additionally, 100% of BioInnovate students later matched in one of their top-3 residency choices (national average 78%), 69% are currently engaged in healthcare technology development, 90% plan to conduct medical technology innovation and development as part of their professional careers and 90% recommend this training for all medical students and residents.
Conclusions:The BioInnovate program has been effective in providing medical students with an experience in comprehensive medical technology innovation and commercialization. It has impacted students’ future career decisions and their academic and entrepreneurial success metrics. Over the first 6-years, the program has trained 13 medical students who developed 21 medical technologies, filed 22 patents and launched 14 startup companies.