Seminars

Through this lecture an engineering pathway to healthcare technology and successful entrepreneurship is illustrated. A continuity of education and career will be presented through the eyes of a UT-Austin Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering graduate. The importance of education and mentoring in engineering, biomaterials, musculoskeletal research and entrepreneurship will be linked as stepping stones along a pathway to healthcare contributions.

Traditional mechanical engineering studies imparted the science of corrosion, biocompatibility, fabrication, design and use of titanium alloy implants for musculoskeletal research and fixation. Doctoral research in bone regeneration and healing build specific knowledge of bone’s response to microgravity, mechanical loading and often in the presence of implants. Experience brought the shape memory metal, nitinol, and together these stepping stones led to the development of internal fixation implants that change shape to compress and effect bone healing.

This clinically successful and now broadly adopted technology would be only a curiosity without the commitment to deployment to effect healthcare today. To assure adoption, companies were formed, patents were obtained, regulatory approvals were granted, funds were raised, sales were achieved and patient care advanced. Today, with companies built and sold, the pathway is known and the cycle of invention, product development and healthcare deployment continues.