GRADUATE PROGRAM
The David E. Swirnow Master of Science in Bioengineering Innovation and Design
The David E. Swirnow MSE in Bioengineering Innovation & Design is an exciting and rigorous real-world medical innovation and biodesign graduate degree program that immerses students in the clinical, technical, and business realities of practical health care innovation. This program will prepare students to be leaders in the creation and development of health care solutions that have the potential for high clinical impact and commercial success.
Key Components of the MSE Program
Clinical Rotations
A unique and exciting feature of the graduate program is the opportunity for summer clinical rotations at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the nation's top ranked hospital. Working with some of the world's best clinicians, students become immersed in the clinical environment of Johns Hopkins to learn the art and skill of identifying unmet clinical needs and by experiencing real world scenarios. During eight weeks over the summer, students rotate through multiple clinical disciplines and become part of the team of senior clinicians, surgeons, residents, fellows, nurses and medical technologists. They learn to identify unmet health care needs through direct observations in a variety of clinical settings including the hospital and operating rooms, clinics, interviews (with patients, doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators), morning rounds, seminars, literature surveys, and more.
During the summer, students also learn the process of filtering all observations to a few valid medical device opportunities by assessing the market size, intellectual property landscape, regulatory framework, and competitor dynamics in addition to the clinical impact that such a device could have. The ability to identify a relevant medical device need is an important first step in the medical device innovation cycle; the summer rotations aim to provide students with practical hands-on training in that process.
CBID graduate students will spend time in a variety of departments which may include General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Urology, Interventional Radiology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Transplant Surgery, and Emergency Medicine.
Global Health Module
To be a leader in health care innovation, students must understand the unique challenges to health care in low resource settings around the world in addition to mature markets such as the United States. The global health course module in the MSE program trains students to identify, validate and develop creative and inexpensive health care solutions for use in developing countries. Students will travel for several weeks in August to countries in the developing world to get a first-hand understanding of the challenges in these health care environments. Students have traveled to India, Nepal, Tanzania and Ethiopia, in close partnership with Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins affiliate and world leader in maternal, child, and family health care around the world. View Student Blogs
Invention, Innovation and Design
The MSE program and device projects provide students with an intensive hands on engineering design experience which takes them through the entire medical device innovation cycle for the US market. Student teams begin by selecting a project after scrutiny of various factors such as clinical impact, commercial viability and potential, and technical feasibility. They define the needs and requirements of such a device, in close consultation with the tartget user (clinician, hospital, or patient). This is followed by development of an engineering solution: invention, design and prototyping of the device. In addition, teams develop a commercialization strategy that includes planning for regulatory and reimbursement approval, generating and protecting intellectual property, going from prototype to manufacturing, and taking the final product to market either through the startup or licensing route.
Business of Bioengineering Innovation and Design
An intensive year long business curriculum is a hallmark of this MSE program. The business component of this program comprises two distinct, but related, components. The first is a broad introduction to the terms, concepts, and values of business and management. Particular emphasis will be placed on the economic, financial, and corporate contexts of our business culture, and how they impact the organization, strategy, and decision-making of business firms. The second component is an introduction to the sociological and economic forces that shape the development and diffusion of new technologies. This part is primarily designed to provide a framework for determining the commercial viability of new medical devices and the best path for realizing their value, including how to develop a compelling value proposition, analyze markets and competitors, and protect intellectual property. Throughout, the course utilizes individual exercises, case analyses, and team projects.
CBID graduate students have presented their projects at numerous business plan competitions and have won over $200,000 in prize money. Our students have won first place in competitions at Harvard, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Maryland among others.