Richard Goldberg, Ph.D. (right), of the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering,
at the June 29 event to encourage technology innovation. (Lineberger Center photo)
July 10, 2015
Benjamin Haithcock, M.D., Jason Long, M.D., M.P.H, and Andrew DiMeo, Ph.D., recently won a $10,000 award from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to build a collaboration between North Carolina State University engineering students and UNC School of Medicine medical residents and faculty to use a UNC surgery simulation laboratory to develop ideas for innovative medical devices.
The competition to encourage development of new medical technologies was a project of the Lineberger Center, the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the UNC Department of Surgery. It was launched to encourage collaboration between UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
Dr. Haithcock, associate professor of surgery and anesthesiology, and Dr. Long, assistant professor of surgery, are both thoracic surgeons in the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. DiMeo is associate professor of the practice in the UNC/NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Dr. Haithcock and Dr. Long made their proposal on June 29 at a scientific “speed dating” event that matched surgeons with engineers who have common interests in solving real-world medical problems. After five-minute speed-dating sessions, the top five teams with pitches for new medical technologies won funding to help advance their ideas.
Read more about the event here, in a story from the Lineberger Center.
– Margaret Alford Cloud, mcloud@med.unc.edu