Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign

Applications are open! Become a 2025-26 Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow. Application link 👇🏾 #innovationeducation #healthtech

LGBTQ+ youth are three times more likely to experience anxiety, and yet, more than 60% do not receive the help they need due to a lack of adequate and inclusive mental health support resources. Veronica Augustina Bot, Ananya Khosla, Katrina Liou, Zahra Rastegar, Sadorian Robertson, and Twan Sia believe that existing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based apps do not target the unique personal and societal issues faced by LGBTQ+ youth. To address this need, they created “My Journey”: a queer-focused CBT app designed to encourage daily engagement, and offer peer support. “Through our engaging platform, we hope to increase adherence to CBT … and, ultimately, play a role in reducing LGBTQ+ teen suicide attempts. The app can also benefit other stakeholders, including therapy providers, by reducing the burden of care via a prevention strategy for LGBTQ+ teens. It could even impact school boards by bringing awareness to the subject of queer mental health, hopefully leading to policy reforms that strengthen access to mental healthcare in schools.” Read more about their vision and development here: https://lnkd.in/e-mGWwe8 

🎓🌍 Are you an international candidate interested in our Biodesign Innovation Fellowship? Join some of our recent alums as they discuss their experiences in the fellowship as international trainees. Hear firsthand about their journey coming to the Bay Area, the challenges and the opportunities they encountered, and the invaluable lessons they learned along the program. This webinar is an opportunity to gain insights and ask your questions. Save the date! 📅Date: Thursday 7/18 ⏰Time: 10:00 am PT 🔗Register here: https://bit.ly/4crUwqX #biodesign #fellowship #webinar

"Artificial intelligence has the potential to change the way we discover new medicines and treatments, the way doctors make clinical decisions, and the way patients understand and engage with their health care. But, of course, there's also novel risks, especially in the areas of data privacy, bias, and patient safety. So for good or ill, the ultimate impact of AI in healthcare will in large part depend upon the health policies that regulate and incentivize its use." ― Rory Thompson, 2023-25 Stanford Biodesign Policy Fellow The Stanford Biodesign Health Technology Innovation Policy Conference 2024 of course included a session on artificial intelligence. With AI evolving rapidly even as many questions remain about its potential impact on patient care, moderator Rohini Kosoglu, together with panelists Ramin Bastani, Robin Strongin, Russell Wald, and Lana Feng, Ph.D.,, addressed the concerns patients have and how innovators can earn their trust, as well as the ways in which government, academia, and industry can best collaborate to ensure the good of human health. Watch the replay here if you missed it https://lnkd.in/ewmxErjC #healthpolicy #healthtech #SBDHealthtechInnovationPolicy #AI

🟢Our final 2024-25 Policy Fellow is Pratima Nallagatla, a bioinformatic scientist at Stanford Pediatrics. Pratima began her career at Roche, spending nine years in in vitro diagnostics product development, studying both pre- and post-launch phases. From her foundational role as a product requirements manager, she led rigorous V&V and clinical trial efforts to ensure launches met standards. Joining Stanford in 2020, she focused her research on regulatory mechanisms affecting cell differentiation and cancer progression in high-risk pediatric leukemia subtypes. Pratima has an undergraduate degree in bioengineering and a master’s degree in computational biology. We are excited to have her onboard! ⭐ This fellowship is part of our policy program that helps current and future policymakers better understand how health policies impact innovation. Learn more about our research and recent events on our website: https://lnkd.in/eAdnuhBc

#Throwback to Graduation 2024: That time when assistant fellowship director Vic McCray, MD delivered a hilarious roast of the 2023-24 Innovation Fellows! The Stanford Biodesign community is special and, as every alum will tell you, it is one of the best things you’ll gain from the Innovation Fellowship experience. If you aspire to innovate and you’d like to join a passionate group of individuals working hard to transform healthcare globally, apply now to join our 2025-26 cohort of Innovation Fellows. Check the link in the comments to learn more! #innovationeducation #healthtech

💬“I think now it's kind of obvious that AI will have a huge impact on healthcare, but back then it was not as obvious, we were just looking to solve a problem. Biodesign taught me to really focus on what the real need is instead of what I was seeing in front of me in the OR.” If you missed our Innovator’s Workbench event with Dr Chris Mansi this past spring, check out the recording. Dr. Mansi, an alumnus of the Biodesign Innovation graduate class, who co-founded and is the CEO of Viz.ai shared his story as an entrepreneur: from neurosurgeon to a pioneer in AI technology for healthcare. Viz.ai uses AI algorithms and machine learning to increase the speed of diagnosis and care, covering more than 220 million lives across 1,600+ hospitals and health systems in the U.S. and Europe. Don't miss out on the story of one of Fast Company's 'World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2024'. ▶️Watch now: https://bit.ly/4euIrm8

🌾Did you know that field burning can pose serious risks to both human health and the environment? 🌏 Franklin Lurie, Vianda Nguyen, Montanna Riggs, and George Tilton-Low took on the challenge to find a solution that will turn an agricultural waste product, rice straw, into an income-generating product for farmers — an enzyme called xylanase that is used in the manufacturing of paper, food, animal feed, biofuel, and textiles. Through their work in the Bioengineering Senior Capstone Design course, the FunGuys team researched a way to genetically engineer a fungus that can quickly and easily degrade rice straw and could present a more affordable and eco-friendly alternative to field burning. “This project is exciting because there can be some compelling planetary health benefits if we address greenhouse gas emissions… [When] changing agricultural practices to potentially benefit millions of small farmers, you can also have a profound impact on human health.” Read more about their proposal here: https://lnkd.in/eeappKvj

🟢 Next up in our 2024-25 Policy Fellow intros is Perry Nielsen Jr! Perry is a master’s student in Health Policy at Stanford University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Florida as a Truman Finalist. As an undergrad, he split his time volunteering with pediatric cancer patients, researching lab utilization for the PCICU, advocating for vaccine access among rural communities, and designing physician burnout interventions. At Stanford, he has expanded his research into medical claims processing and is co-leading the creation of a health advisory committee to give students input on the quality and accessibility of campus health services. Perry is passionate about common sense healthcare reform and the accessible translation of medical research to clinical practice. He loves watching classic movies at the Stanford Theater and exploring all the natural beauty of Northern California. We are excited to have you at Biodesign! ⭐ This fellowship is part of our policy program that helps current and future policymakers better understand how health policies impact innovation. Learn more about our research and recent events on our website: https://lnkd.in/eAdnuhBc

"Interoperability doesn't happen magically, just because you bought the pipes. There's a tremendous amount of work that goes into actually making sure that [the] data flows. [It’s] beneficial for the country for a whole lot of reasons: it's beneficial for individual patients, it’s beneficial for populations, and it should be beneficial for public health" ― 💬 Deven McGraw. Health data interoperability was another topic of discussion at our inaugural Health Technology Innovation Policy Conference in Washington DC last month. Rob Klootwyk, Jennifer Blumenthal, Deven McGraw, and Brendan Keeler joined Stanford Biodesign’s director for Digital Health, Oliver Aalami, for a conversation about the progress, challenges, and potential of interoperability in healthcare. 💡 They emphasized the importance of easier and more secure data sharing among health providers. 💡 The need for transparency in data usage. 💡 The benefits of patients having access to their healthcare data. 💡 The role of regulatory entities and the opportunity for TEFCA to create a more unified exchange of health data. 💡 They also highlighted the potential for interoperability to reduce waste in healthcare, enable better patient-centered care, and spur advancements in medicine and research. If you missed the conversation, you can now watch a replay here https://lnkd.in/gBTMexWf #healthpolicy #biotech #healthtech #SBDHealthtechInnovationPolicy