Developing Innovative Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering Programs in Africa

描述(由申请者提供)：针对中低收入国家(LMIC)关键需求的广泛跨学科培训计划可以显著增加将研究成果转化为实现的健康益处。西北大学建议建立生物医学工程方面的综合培训计划，包括确定关键的医疗保健需求、产品设计、交付、临床评估、可扩展性和产品发布。我们计划的主题包括开发有效、负担得起、易于使用的创新生物医学设备，这些设备可以促进诊断、治疗干预和疾病监测。我们的建议建立在西北大学成功的全球健康框架计划(框架-1)的基础上，该计划支持开发多学科的全球健康课程，并在范伯格医学院创建全球健康中心，在麦考密克工程学院创建全球健康技术创新中心，在凯洛格管理学院创建全球健康倡议。框架-1具体导致了涉及医学、工程和商学院的临床和基础研究的密切合作，并建立了西北全球健康基金会，这是一个独立的非营利性组织，支持大学后新保健产品的商业开发。我们的LMIC合作伙伴包括南非开普敦大学、尼日利亚伊巴丹大学和拉各斯大学、马里巴马科大学和肯尼亚内罗毕大学。这些LMIC机构与西北大学有许多现有的关系，包括积极的教师和学生交换计划、总统艾滋病紧急救援计划(PEPFAR)、医学教育伙伴计划(MEPI)和艾滋病国际培训和研究计划(AITRP)等。这项提案的总体目标是提供工具，以开发低收入国家亟需的医疗保健技术。该提案的具体目标是：1)在非洲建立新的和加强现有的生物医学工程培训计划；2)培训生物医学工程师和医生如何评估新开发的测试和治疗产品；3)培训商学院的研究生，以扩大在LMIC中的开发和推出新产品。将开发和采用的医疗保健技术将包括任何改善健康结果和具有成本效益的创新，包括新的医疗保健点医疗诊断设备、治疗干预、信息系统和通过移动电话促进的远程医疗诊断。我们自下而上的方法以及对南南研究、培训和评估的重视使这项提议具有独特性和开创性。这些努力的总体结果是在生物医学工程方面发展了跨机构、跨学科和创新的培训计划，从需求评估和产品设计开始，继续到验证、知识产权保护、生产，最后到LMIC的营销和分销。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Broad interdisciplinary training programs which address critical needs in low and middle income countries (LMIC) can significantly increase the translation of research findings into realized health benefits. Northwestern University proposes to establish comprehensive training programs in biomedical engineering that includes identification of critical health care needs, product design, delivery, clinical evaluation, scalablity and product launch. The theme of our program involves the development of effective, affordable, and easy to use innovative biomedical devices that can advance diagnostics, therapeutic interventions and disease monitoring. Our proposal builds on Northwestern's successful original Framework Programs for Global Health (Frameworks-1) which supported the development of a multidisciplinary global health curricula and creation of the Center for Global Health in the Feinberg School of Medicine, the Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies in the McCormick School of Engineering and the Global Health Initiative at the Kellogg School of Management. Frameworks-1 specifically lead to the close collaboration of clinical and basic research involving medical, engineering and business schools as well as the establishment of the Northwestern Global Health Foundation, an independent not-for-profit which supports post-university commercial development of new healthcare products. Our LMIC partners include the University of Cape Town in South Africa, the University of Ibadan and Lagos University in Nigeria, the University of Bamako in Mali, and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. These LMIC institutions have many existing relationships with Northwestern including active faculty and student exchange programs, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI), and the AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP), among others. The overall goal of this proposal is to provide the tools to develop critically needed healthcare technologies in LMICs. The specific aims of the proposal are: 1) establish new and enhance existing training programs in biomedical engineering in Africa; 2) train biomedical engineers and medical doctors how to evaluate newly developed testing and treatment products; and 3) train post graduates from business schools to scale up development and launch new products in LMICs. The healthcare technologies to be developed and employed will include any innovation that improves health outcomes and is cost-effective including novel point-of-care medical diagnostic devices, therapeutic interventions, information systems, and telemedicine diagnostics facilitated through mobile phones. Our bottom-up approach and emphasis on South-South research training and assessment makes this proposal unique and ground-breaking. The overall result of these efforts is to develop trans-institutional, cross disciplinary and innovative training programs in biomedical engineering starting with needs assessment and product design, continuing to validation, intellectual property protection, production and finally to marketing and distribution in the LMICs.