Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010 - (Page 6)

in my own words Engineering World Health ROBERT MALKIN, PH.D., P.E. Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University In 2001, Robert Malkin and Mohammad Kiani founded Engineering World Health (EWH) on the simple belief that biomedical engineers can improve healthcare in developing countries. T oday, EWH runs several programs aimed at improving healthcare infrastructure and technology in developing countries, including a summer program for engineering students, a program that funds the development of biomedical technologies, and a kit-building program that sends medical devices to resource-poor facilities. Birth of a notion I met Dr. Mohammad Kiani in 1993, when we both joined the engineering faculty at the University of Memphis. We had both lived in the developing world, and we both understood what an engineer—especially a biomedical engineer—could contribute to healthcare in resource-poor settings. For years, almost from the first day we met, we discussed this. We tried unsuccessfully to convince professional societies to take the lead in this effort. By 1999, we realized that we would have to do it ourselves. pediatric hospital in Managua, Nicaragua, where Bill had been traveling to do surgery on children with heart defects. He would send three or four nurses, a couple of MDs, maybe an intensivist, a surgeon, and a few lay volunteers with the intention of doing 20 or 30 surgeries in a couple weeks. But what would often happen was that, sometimes as early as day one, some piece of equipment would break and they’d have to stop working. We were essentially brought along as insurance. Finding our focus On one trip, the heart-lung machine broke down on the first day. Without that piece of equipment, their work was absolutely stopped. It turned out to be a fuse, but that fuse was not—and is still not—available in Nicaragua. I had to figure out how to deal with the problem in the absence of the fuse, but in about 20 minutes I got the machine back up and running. During that same trip, in the middle of an operation, the surgery lamp caught on fire. The patient’s chest was open, so we had to jury-rig a solution immediately. Afterward, I discovered that the problem was the light bulb. The surgery lamp’s specialized bulb had been replaced with a regular light bulb from the grocery store. We still see that very problem all over the world. But many times, nothing went wrong. Plenty of surgeries went just fine. During those times, we’d go around the hospital and fix the rest of their equipment. Very quickly we realized that this was the real need. Fixing the specialized equipment for the doctor who comes in for a few days is great, but what about the equipment the hospital uses on the other 360 days of the year? That became our focus early on. vEER Life insurance In 2000, we met with Dr. Bill Novick, the founder and director of the International Children’s Heart Foundation, to talk about how we might contribute to the work he was doing in the developing world. He understood right away how this could work and invited us on a few trips with him that year. Our first trips were to a Projects that matter We knew that our students could contribute to this effort, and we incorporated Engineering World Health in 2001 so we could involve them. Some of our graduate students got involved that summer, and undergraduate students the next. EWH has nearly doubled in size every year since. It wasn’t long before students were coming home 6 imagine May/Jun 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010
Table of Contents
Big Questions
In My Own Words
If They Build It
Design That Matters
Wired to Win
A Student at SPAWAR
Even When the Ground Shakes
Biomimicry
An Engineer in Training
Engineering My Future
Home Away From Home
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Middle Ground
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Sudoku
Knossos Game

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010