Photo from Thomas Hawk on Flickr
One of the great traditions and strengths of the UC system is cross-campus collaboration. As a second year graduate student of the UCSF/UC-Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering (JGGB), I witness on a daily basis the teamwork and synergy that occurs between these two great UC campuses. The JGGB is one of very few programs in the US that connects a first-rate medical institution with a university that exemplifies the highest standards of engineering and science. This program presents its graduate students with unparalleled opportunities, not only in the form of a substantially enlarged program faculty (since both UCSF and Berkeley faculty are available to us) and the resources of both campuses, but the unique ability to work with and learn from both doctors and engineers of the highest caliber.
Graduate students in the JGGB routinely take advantage of these opportunities. For example, 2nd-year JGGB student, Dan Cohen, recently organized the “Clinical Applied Science and Engineering” program to facilitate graduate students shadowing surgeries at UCSF. During the program, I witnessed Dr. Maxwell Meng perform a prostatectomy with the Da Vinci robotic system, which allows the surgeon to remotely manipulate laparoscopic tools placed inside the patient via hand-held controllers and a 3D camera viewer. This system allows for much more precise manipulation of surgical instruments, which often improves patient outcome for sensitive, difficult procedures such as prostatectomies. To me, this robotic system served as a powerful example of how smart engineering can improve treatments.
Another great example of cross-campus educational collaboration is the BioE298P024 “Anti-medical” seminar that invites UCSF physicians to Berkeley once a week to give talks on the unaddressed technical needs within medicine. Dr. Sigurd Bevern, one guest speaker, discussed the need for physically quantifying pain as a means to more accurately diagnose and treat chronic back pain. Another speaker asked the engineers whether anything could be done to prevent hip replacement joints from squeaking, as this is a problem for some patients with ceramic hip replacements. The “Anti-med” seminar is well attended by Bioengineering faculty and students who hope to bring their expertise to bear on the needs presented by the physicians. Several collaborations have grown out of these seminars, although they are still in the development phases. The hope embedded in both these programs and in the JGGB more generally is that active conversations between physicians and engineering graduate students and faculty will lead to productive collaborations and ultimately bold innovations. Bold innovation, after all, is another of UC’s great traditions.
Acknowledgements: My thanks to Dan Cohen for fruitful discussions and information.