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Translating Discoveries to the Bedside: A Medical Devices Course
Spring 2025 Applications Opening Soon!
Applications for the Spring 2025 Bootcamp Course will open early February 2025.
An NIH-funded Fundamentals Course to De-mystify Academic Entrepreneurship for Busy Clinicians and Scientists
Through a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are offering an exclusive Spring 2025 bootcamp course in academic entrepreneurship to a selective cohort of clinicians and scientists from across the nation.
Course Details
The course entails a 5 day in-person bootcamp, combined with personalized mentoring and will provide participants with the tools and strategies to translate ideas into impactful innovations with a focus on medical device development.
- Learn a core curriculum supplemented with a mentor-guided individual development plan and a capstone project to prepare for a career in medical device innovation (e.g., translational researcher, developer, co-founder, regulatory/safety/clinical evaluator)
- Receive personalized training and mentoring to help you pursue a career focused on medical device development
- Engage in established and innovative adult learning formats like case-based activities and team-based project work on real-life devices.
- Access our free, open-source, interactive e-book, Academic Entrepreneurship for Medical and Health Scientists. Mentors and faculty include e-book authors and other nationally recognized experts in device development and entrepreneurship.
- Benefit from support personnel and resources at CHOP and Penn and our nationwide research and entrepreneurship network
- Connect with like-minded individuals from across academic institutions
Join us to elevate your career and make a difference. This program is competitive, and space is limited. In-person bootcamp will provide some meals, and funding for travel and hotel is available. Diversity drives innovation and we welcome applicants from all disciplines and backgrounds to ensure inclusive solutions that transform healthcare across the lifespan.
Course Dates, Locations & Fees
Dates | May 28-June 1, 2025 |
Format | In Person |
Location | Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia |
Duration | Half-day May 28 Full-day May 29-May 31 Half- day June 1 |
Fee | $1,000 registration fee will be covered by NIH for eligible applicants. Funds are available to support regional travel, hotel, and meals. |
Medical innovation is a cornerstone of CHOP and the Penn missions. Medical devices such as the first infant incubator and the first cardiac balloon catheter were developed here, as were the first FDA-approved gene and cell therapies for genetic conditions and pediatric leukemia. CHOP and Penn are institutions renowned for groundbreaking advancements in healthcare. This legacy of transforming research and innovation from "bench to bedside" is more than just rigorous science. It's about a commitment to translating research into real-world health solutions that improve patient outcomes. This work often requires clinicians and scientists to act as bridges between academia and industry, using the skills of Academic Entrepreneurship to transition research into real-world impact.
Day | Tentative Agenda |
---|---|
Day 1: May 28, 2025 (Half Day, Evening) | Welcome; Informal Networking |
Day 2: May 29, 2025 |
Breakfast Gather; Welcome Basics of Being an Academic Entrepreneur Introspection; Professional Development Primer Pitching; Communication Medical Device Basics – FDA Regulation & IRB Medical Device Lifecycle Non-Traditional Funding Intro to the Individual Development Plan (IDP), etc. |
Day 3: May 20, 2025 |
Defining a Problem Customer Discovery Thinking Like an Engineer; Verification & Validation Early Solutioning |
Day 4: May 31, 2025 |
Legal Basics Team Building; Dynamics; Working on Teams Business Planning Regulatory Basics – Mistakes to Avoid |
Day 5: June 1, 2025 (Half Day, Morning) | Cases Review & Presentations; Bootcamp Wrap-Up |
- Certificate of Completion that can be added to LinkedIn
- A sustained network of bootcamp alumni, faculty and mentors
- Upon completion of the bootcamp, eligible participants will be invited to complete a secondary application for longitudinal mentoring which includes:
- An Individual Development Plan (IDP) focused on Academic Entrepreneurship career development, crafted in partnership with your mentorship team
- Up to two-years of entrepreneurship mentoring built on evidence-based methods in support of participant-identified Capstone project
- Access to additional funding to support achievement of Academic Entrepreneurship professional development goals
This program is designed for graduate students in clinical, translational, or basic sciences and engineering (e.g., Masters, PhD, MD/DMD/Nursing), postdoctoral fellows, research-oriented residents and clinical fellows, and junior research faculty at academic institutions across the nation. In addition, more senior applicants are welcome to apply. You do not need to be a current member of the CHOP and/or Penn organizations to apply. If you do not meet the above description, we welcome your inquiry about application (see "Applying to Course").
Participants are expected to:
- Attend the entire 5-day bootcamp in-person in Philadelphia
- Participate in the mentorship program following the course (at least 3 meetings with mentors per year over a two-year period)
- Complete an Independent Development Plan in pursuit of a Capstone project (entails ~2-3 hours of work per week over a two-year period)
Applications will open in early February 2025. Check back or contact [email protected] to ask questions, subscribe to the newsletter and receive updates.
This course is funded as part of a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Award to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia called "Translating Medical Device Discoveries to the Bedside: The Academic Entrepreneurship Awareness to Action (AE2A) Curriculum to Promote Training of a Diverse Workforce." (Grant Project number: 1R25GM155479-01 )
Support for this program also comes from the CHOP Research Institute through funding to the CHOP Innovation Ecosystem.