The Medical Innovation Fellowship program brings together a cross-disciplinary team to collaborate in medical related innovation and development for approximately 10 months. The Fellows learn about disciplined product development including FDA and Health Canada requirements, Insurance Reimbursement, Intellectual Property, Business Strategies, Creativity Techniques, and Prototyping. The Fellows participate in clinical immersion to observe MDs, nurses, other medical health professionals, and associated technicians at work in clinical settings, such as the operating room. After collecting unmet needs, the Fellows define the clinical problem from all angles, working with each other and Western organizations to innovate around these needs with multiple sets of prototyping cycles and bench top testing.
The ultimate goal is for the Fellows to bring a new product into the realm of medical innovation. We are seeking 6-8 Fellows for an appointment beginning in August 2022 and lasting approximately 10 months.
About the Role
1. Medical Device Development (70%)
– Launching, leading, and contributing to multiple medical development projects;
– Planning, organizing, and evaluating the progress of activities and operations of the medical device development projects;
– Ideating new concepts and solutions to unmet clinical needs;
– Developing prototypes (including design, fabrication, working with vendors, testing on the bench, and preclinical testing);
– Authoring and presenting results (presentation/pitches/reports);
– Seeking, meeting with, and maintaining relationships with project collaborators;
– Preparing and filing intellectual property disclosures;
– Working with attorneys to draft patents;
– Developing business plans around medical innovation opportunities and identifying funding sources (grants, licenses, investment).
2. Bootcamp and Clinical Immersion (20%)
– Attending meetings and presentations of invited speakers;
– Designing and conducting interviews with physicians, allied health professionals, and researchers to identify and collect unmet clinical needs;
– Filtering and prioritizing the collected unmet clinical needs by conducting market research;
– Developing and maintaining collaborative relationships with physicians, allied health professionals, researchers, and medical device professionals;
– Attending networking and WORLDiscoveries outreach events to develop relationships with local entrepreneurs, regional innovation centres, venture capitalists, and funding agencies.
3. Additional essential functions that account for less than 10% of time:
– Promoting Western (giving tours, events, meeting with important individuals);
– Weekly team meetings with Fellows and MIF Program Director;
– Monthly team meetings with MIF Program Mentors;
– Administrative overhead to follow university procedures and reporting;
– Ability to participate in MITACS Training programs;
– Mentor/Share their experience with various student bodies/classes on campus;
– Opportunity to lead workshops and discussion groups for medical health professional students and engineering (under)graduate students about the medical device design process.
Physical/Environmental Demands:
Most of the workday is spent in an office environment, but part of the Fellowship is to participate in clinical immersion and observe surgeries and visit clinics. Prototyping for new medical devices can take place in various locations on campus, which hosts a variety of machines and tools.
Qualifications
Education:
– PhD in Engineering, Neurosciences, Biosciences, Computer Science, or related discipline, or MD
Experience:
– 1 year research training
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
– Self-driven, independent thinker who is highly motivated and possesses an intrinsic passion for quality and creativity
– Excellent verbal and written communication skills and confidence dealing with internal and external stakeholders
– A strong record of teamwork with the motivation and ability to work independently with little supervision
– Possesses a reputation for resourcefulness with a strong sense of accountability and initiative
– Results-oriented with an ability to handle many tasks while maintaining a high level of individual and team performance
– Ability to research and process information with high levels of accuracy
Classification & Regular Hours
We are seeking 6-8 Fellows for an appointment beginning in August 2022 and lasting approximately 10 months.
Salary: $3,854.07 per month (there are no group benefits provided with this appointment)
About Western
With an international reputation for success, Western ranks as one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western also provides an exceptional employment experience, offering competitive salaries, a wide range of employment opportunities and one of Canada’s most beautiful campuses.
About Us
Western Research, under the leadership of the Vice-President (Research), is responsible for ensuring that Western has vibrant and growing interaction with various sources of research funding and that the faculties have increasing funding for their research programs. It is also responsible to ensure a healthy flow of technology resulting from Western research to the commercial world thereby creating jobs, increasing economic development and the general betterment of society.
Please Note:
Additional paperwork for clinical immersion and signing a confidentiality agreement may be required.
Effective September 7, 2021, all employees and visitors to campus are required to comply with Western’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy.
Submission Requirements:
Note: Do not discuss or disclose any confidential information related to intellectual property you have developed if it has not been properly protected.
Please include a cover letter and current CV as attachments; your CV should also contain the name and contact information for at least 3 references.
As part of your application submission, please attach your written essay saved as per the indicated format.
For further information and instruction on the application requirements, please refer to: http://medicalinnovation.ca/
Please direct questions regarding this application process to medicalinnovation@uwo.ca
We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those chosen for an interview will be acknowledged.
Deadline for applications is March 1, 2022
Apply at Working at Western and search Job ID 24830.
