Page 22 - QWE

<HIGHLIGHT: THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE>
Left: Sarah Fink (far left) with Asia- Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society president Maggie Sun. Below: presenting her team’s sensor- enabled nasogastric tube at the University of Melbourne’s 2016 Endeavour Exhibition. Bottom left: winning the 2016 MedTech’s Got Talent competition.
Healthy dose of competition
{Careers with Engineering}
22
Challenged to conceive an innovative medical device, Sarah Fink Hand her team are on the cusp of making their dream a cashed-up reality
aving a tube stuck up your nose probably Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but for The MBA and engineering students worked together, patients who are unable to feed orally it meeting with medical experts to identify clinical could be a lifesaver. And for University needs and develop a product to address this gap.
of Melbourne Master of Engineering (Biomedical) graduate Sarah Fink, it could provide a viable income after she and her teammates developed
a sensor-enabled nasogastric tube as part of her BioDesign Innovation subject.
“To be honest, it's not something I would have thought of doing before this course,” Sarah says.
Already it has led to a job opportunity at a medical device startup, which Sarah believes would not have
She also appreciates the freedom this course gave her to choose a project that interested her, rather than being assigned a particular problem to solve, as many institutions do.
come about without the networking opportunities
The project has since received $20,000 in federal funding and the team is currently conducting feasibility tests and looking at the possibility of working with a product development company
afforded to her team through showcasing her design.
to bring the nasogastric tube to market.
Sarah was also invited to attend the Asia-Pacific
As part of the subject, Sarah formed a team that included engineering and
Entrepreneurship Society Summit at Stanford University, California, last year as one of 35 of the world’s best young entrepreneurs. – Penny Pryor
TO GET THERE: VCE or equivalent >> Bachelor of Science (Bioengineering Systems) or Bachelor of Biomedicine (Bioengineering Systems) or other Bachelor degree with relevant mathematics and science subjects >> Master of Engineering (Biomedical) >> Design Engineer at medical device company
SHUTTERSTOCK