Medical Device Research as an MD

[muhali3]

How easy is it for an MD to get involved in medical technology R&D? Stuff like artificial hearts, bionic legs, gamma knife, imaging, etc. What role would the MD play in such research? Would the MD just ensure the efficacy of the technology or could he/she also be involved in the design/engineering of the device?...

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[Captain Fantastic]

Here at an academic medical center attached to a research-oriented university you see a number of surgeons collaborating with the engineering department. I've seen new hernia meshes, new instruments, new knee joints, different ceramics for hip joints, etc., etc. These are pretty easy to get in on. We even have a one-year "biodesign and innovation fellowship" that some of the surgical residents participate in: a doc, an engineer, and a business person are put together to bring an idea through R&D and lay the initially market groundwork.

 

[physicsnerd42]

I'm doing a MD/PhD in biomedical engineering. My research adviser runs the surgical research labs at my school. Most of the people doing the research are engineers and companies but physicians are often involved with parts of the projects. We had a retinal surgeon implanting artificial retinas in pigs, neurosurgeons trying out new neuro/spine devices, GI docs doing a bunch of NOTES (natural orifice, translumenal endoscopic surgery) cases (gastric bypass and heart surgery through the esophagus, trying out attachments for endoscopes, etc.). There have been many more experiments than those which have involved surgeons and GI docs in our labs.

One of my buddies works in an engineering group at our school that is working on a device to do dynamic brain tumor imaging in surgery of human patients. Whenever there's a human case that's on the protocol for the equipment, the surgeons are in the OR with the engineers, doing surgeries and trying devices.

So, you can get involved as a MD but you're probably not going to be designing devices, just trying them in large animal (and sometimes human) models.

 

[Law2Doc]

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So, you can get involved as a MD but you're probably not going to be designing devices, just trying them in large animal (and sometimes human) models.

Agreed. Doctors are a necessary part of the process, but frequently at the end, during clinical trials, rather than in the engineering stage. That isn't to say that if you have a good idea you couldn't bring in engineering types to make it happen, just that it frequently goes the other way round. If your goal is to develop medical devices, then medicine isn't the right path. If your goal is to be a physician, then once you are an established one there may be an opportunity to work with vendors to do clinical trials to try out their new devices, and get a paper or some research funding out of it, which can be helpful for an academic career. But I think you OP are picturing something different. You are probably trying to use a non medicine interest s a justification to go to med school. I would think that through.

 

[muhali3]

Well, I like medical technology and would like to be involved in the R&D, but I wouldn't want to make a career out of it. I've thought about BME, and although it is very interesting on a mental level, the daily work in the field wouldn't satisfy me as much as being a physician. In BME you can spend years doing R&D that ultimately culminates into nothing of value. But it's good to know that I can at least be peripherally involved as an MD.

 

[mauberley]

Agreed. Doctors are a necessary part of the process, but frequently at the end, during clinical trials, rather than in the engineering stage. That isn't to say that if you have a good idea you couldn't bring in engineering types to make it happen, just that it frequently goes the other way round.

I agree with this to a certain extent, but I would also add that a physician who understands engineering would be quite useful when gathering user requirements. It makes translating them into system requirements that much easier. 🙂

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

I agree with this to a certain extent, but I would also add that a physician who understands engineering would be quite useful when gathering user requirements. It makes translating them into system requirements that much easier. 🙂

I agree but that would still require additional training IMO (if you don't have an engineering background from undergrad, etc, already), whether formal or informal. It's unlikely that just med school + clinical residency would be enough since the purpose of medical training is to (primarily) put out clinicians, not researchers/engineers/etc. JMHO.

 

[mauberley]

I agree but that would still require additional training IMO (if you don't have an engineering background from undergrad, etc, already), whether formal or informal. It's unlikely that just med school + clinical residency would be enough since the purpose of medical training is to (primarily) put out clinicians, not researchers/engineers/etc. JMHO.

That's perfectly accurate. I only wanted to point out that there is an opportunity (with the right skill set) for physicians to participate in the design input stage rather than the validation stage.