GVSU students bring medical device ideas to life

Students at Grand Valley State University are solving real-world medical problems by designing and building devices for medical professionals. 

The devices are being developed in the Grand Valley School of Engineering through a collaboration with Spectrum Health Innovations (SHI), a subsidiary of Spectrum Health that helps health staff develop and launch original ideas, including health care products and technologies. Physicians and medical staff come to SHI with ideas, and through the SHI/GVSU collaboration agreement, work with students who are challenged with developing the ideas and building prototypes. 

Dr. Brent Mulder, senior director of SHI, said working with Grand Valley students has been an invaluable experience. "The clinicians are excited to see their ideas come to life and students get real-life experiences by building something new and working with medical professionals," he said. 

Talks for creating a partnership began in 2011, when the School of Engineering began offering a medical device design class as part of the then-new biomedical engineering master's program. Grand Valley offers the only graduate-level biomedical engineering degree program in Michigan that focuses on medical device design and development.

John Farris, professor of engineering who teaches the medical device design class, said the collaboration is beneficial for both groups. 

"My students have been a part of projects they have never imagined," Farris said. "The product designs and prototypes developed through this collaboration have led to patents being filed, students winning business plan competitions and students licensing intellectual property from Spectrum Health Innovations to start their own companies."

One such company was created by Eric Van Middendorp, a Grand Valley engineering alumnus, who developed an Endotracheal Tube Holder as a graduate assistant at SHI, where he now works as a mechanical design engineer. The device provides structural support of breathing tubes connected to patients. He has won several business plan competitions, including GreenLight Michigan Business Model Competition where he took first place and received $25,000 to further develop his device.

The first project of the collaboration began in April 2014. Most recently, students presented their designs and devices during an event in December 2015. The projects include an in-bed exercise machine, an intravenous drug pump for home use and a female external urinary device. 

Alex Roh, a product design and manufacturing engineering major from Hudsonville, worked on the in-bed exercise machine that aims to improve the physical therapy process for patients who had knee or hip replacement surgery and cannot bear their full weight. The goal was to produce a lightweight, portable device that could provide active therapy for a patient while they remain in their hospital bed. 

"Our attempts to meet all the specifications resulted in many late nights of brainstorming, designing and discussion, but it was worth it. Being able to take an idea through the design process and ending with a finished product was a great experience that exemplified what it really takes to develop a new product," said Roh. 

The collaboration agreement also includes involvement from staff members and professors in the Grand Valley School of Computing and Information Systems and Richard M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

For more information, contact Lori Henry, project manager for SHI, at [email protected] or John Farris at [email protected].