Stanford India Biodesign
Once the Biodesign Fellowship program was up and running, the founders turned their attention to India, a country with which Stanford has strong and lasting ties. Today, the second cohort of India fellows is finishing up the first half of their fellowship year. They’ll spend the next six months back in India, working at medical and technology schools.
“You can get into an entrepreneurial mode here, saying, how much money can I make?” said Christine Kurihara, associate director of Stanford India Biodesign. “But now, with the India program, there’s a new sensibility: How many people can I affect? Business needs to think differently about the poor, and there are ways of reaching them. This isn’t about charity; you can make inexpensive devices and sell a billion of them. Beyond that, it’s the right thing to do.”
So the four fellows—physician Darshan Nayak, engineering professors Rahul Ribeiro and Asokan Thondiyath and product designer Pulin Raje—have to keep one eye on what’s going on here and the other eye on how the knowledge and experience will play out at home.
“Our intention is to design for India,” said Raje. “Even learning about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” which the Biodesign Innovation class spends a lot of time discussing, “is helpful because India is in the process of making regulatory laws to ensure safety and encourage innovation. We’re hoping to play a role in the development of Indian medical technology. Intellectual property is different here too, but we can think about it in an Indian scenario.”
The principal difference is that Indians pay for medical care out of pocket, and therefore it must be inexpensive.
“This is a hurdle for designers because the products must be as low cost as possible,” Raje said. “Here I can sell something for $100, but in India no one will buy it.”
“The needs are similar,” Ribeiro pointed out, “but the solutions must be cost-effective.”
Said Raje, “You see things here and you say, that’s the same as in India. But can I take this product to India? No, it won’t work, it’s meant to be used here.”
The Indians are participating in the class teams, and they all remarked on the usefulness of combining medical, engineering and business professionals.
“We educate each other,” noted Ribeiro.
The mix mimics the “vibrant ecosystem” of Silicon Valley, said the program’s executive director, Rajiv Doshi, and that mix does not yet exist in India.
“People are more spread out there, and it’s rare for them to come together. Instead, they work in silos,” he said. In order to combat that isolation, Stanford India Biodesign and its Indian partner institutions have set up a biodesign network to bring people together.
“If the Biodesign program had existed when I was in school, my life would have been easier,” said Doshi, laughing. Instead, he constructed the pieces himself: He earned degrees in chemical and biomechanical engineering and in medicine, all from Stanford (where he worked in Paul Yock’s lab), and from there launched a series of medical inventions. He has around 20 patents issued or pending.
In addition to taking the class and working on team projects, the four Indians are immersing themselves in Stanford’s emergency room, and a second project will emerge there, depending on which needs they observe. They are especially interested in targeting the “golden hour” just after the onset of an emergency, which is when lives can be saved. India does not yet have systematic ambulance, paramedic or 911 service, so whatever project they come up with will surely meet a need at home.
“With 1.2 billion people, four fellows isn’t enough!” joked Doshi, which is why Stanford India Biodesign also has an internship program in India, providing around 20 young scientists, physicians and engineers with a similar, albeit briefer, opportunity.
“We spend long hours on Skype,” he said.
