HMDN – Hopkins Medical Device Network

To provide BME underclassmen with a more personal look at design team, we interviewed four design team leaders: Ben Neese, David Huberdeau, Leyla Isik, and Shrivats Iyer.

Ben Neese
Senior
Hometown: Nashville, TN
BME Concentration: Sensors and Instrumentation

HMDN: What is the project your Design Team is working on?
BN: We are working on a heel ulcer prevention system. Patients in hospitals are lying on beds, and the beds are hard. They develop pressure ulcers due to the lack of blood flow in the heel. We are working to develop a preventative device for the hospital population—something that can be worn by all patients to prevent these [ulcers]. Basically it’s going to be a form fitting sock with some sort of gel cushioning to reduce sheer pressure on the heal. We’re working with low friction Teflon as well, and rubber grips on the sock to make them walkable.

HMDN: Can you tell us a little bit about your team?
BN: We have six people, four juniors and two seniors. We have strengths in a lot of different fields—a lot of computer design skills in terms of CAD and simulation, and a lot of clinical experience. A lot of us have been around patients and hospitals. For the most part we are all good communications with good writing skills and good business planning skills.

HMDN: What are your plans after you graduate?
BN: It’s kind of up in the air right now. Ideally I’d work in medical devices for a year or two and then apply to medical school. Right now I’m applying for Teach for America.

HMDN: If you had ten dollars and one day to spend it, what would you do?
BN: I’d probably buy a pizza and then get some friends together. I’d drive out to the middle of nowhere, build a bonfire and just chill out.

HMDN: Do you remember how your answered this question for your Hopkins application?
BN: I think I said I would go to the bank, get ten dollars worth of pennies and have a penny fight.

HMDN: A penny fight?
BN: Yeah, you know when you snap pennies and shoot them at people? You can have a penny fight pretty much wherever.

HMDN: Other than Design Team, what else are you involved with at Hopkins?
BN: I’m the VP of the club swim team, and an RA in Mccoy. I also do volunteer sports coaching around Baltimore.

HMDN: What is something you want to accomplish in your lifetime?
BN: I want to complete an Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, invent some really cool medical device that helps a lot of people. And I’d like to own a farm.

HMDN: Why a farm?
BN: It’s very simple, very peaceful. Somewhere you can go and be away from everything. It speaks of earlier simple times—down home and very peaceful. A lot of my friends back home have farms and I have spent a lot of time there.

HMDN: You are originally from Nashville. How do you feel about Baltimore compared to Nashville?
BN: There’s a lot of hustle and bustle [in Baltimore]. People are in a hurry here. There’s a less friendly environment. Everyone is focused on their own thing. I don’t find as much friendliness with your fellow man. Southern Hospitality, I think that’s what’s lacking.

HMDN: If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be?
BN: MC Hammer. Because he had some mad dance grooves. Maybe he could teach me some of those.

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David Huberdeau
Senior
Hometown: Woodbridge, VA
BME Concentration: Sensors and Instrumentation

HMDN: Can you briefly explain your team’s project?
DH: The title is Therapeutic Hypothermia Rapid Induction System. Clinical research has shown that administering mild hypothermia within five to six hours of cardiac arrest improves neurological outcomes of survivors. The sooner the better. We’re coming up with a device that allows first responders to administer hypothermia as soon as they can.

HMDN: Can you tell us a little about your team?
DH: We are all seniors. Most of them have instrumentation focus areas, one member is cell and tissue engineering. We have a few very technical people who are good at programming and instrumentation. A few are good at researching things, and there are a couple of people who are good and presentation and making everything look polished and professional. They are all generally good and communicating and can answer questions no problem. Overall, insightful, participative, and motivated about the project.

HMDN: If you had ten dollars and one day to spend it, what would you do?
DH: I’d invest it and try to make more.

HMDN: Is this how your responded on your Hopkins application essay as well?
DH: No on the application I said I would use it to go camping with my brother. After the ten dollars I invest today, maybe I’ll be able to take a vacation to Hawaii some day, if I get lucky.

HMDN: Based on your application response and how you answered today, how do you think Hopkins has changed you?
DH: (laughs) That says a lot doesn’t it. I think I’m a little more grounded and realistic perhaps. I don’t want to say less optimistic, but a better term is grounded. And certainly more thoughtful—I think things through to a productive conclusion. Time management, and interpersonal skills.

HMDN: Other than design team, what else are you involved with at Hopkins?
DH: I used to do research. I also used to be on the track team. I still run, but not really with the team. I go wall climbing occasionally.

HMDN: What are your plans after you graduate?
DH: Grad school I’m applying to both BME and electrical engineering programs

HMDN: What is something you’d like to accomplish in your lifetime?
DH: Professionally, I’d like to do research and clinical research, research that is applicable to medicine. I’d kind of like to do this endurance race, the Four Desert Race.

HMDN: If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?
DH: Isaac Newton. He’s one of the more famous scientists for the modern age.

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Leyla Isik
Senior
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
BME Concentration: Systems and Instrumentation/Computational Biology

HMDN: What is your design team working on?
LI: An intelligent orthopedic surgical drill that hopefully will improve safety and accuracy in orthopedic surgery.

HMDN: Can you tell us a little about your team?
LI: My team has four seniors not including myself, and one junior. Our concentrations are pretty diverse, and we have all four are represented. It’s good, because there are a lot of different elements to the project. We need some people to work on control algorithms, computational things, systems, and cell and tissue engineering, because we are drilling in to bone have to take into the mechanical properties of it. We are a fun group. We have a good time at meetings, and enjoy each other’s company.

HMDN: What are your plans after you graduate?
LI: Graduate school

HMDN: If you had ten dollars and one day to spend it, what would you do?
LI: I would buy ten dollars worth of food and spend it with my design team.

HMDN: What else are you involved with at Hopkins?
LI: I’m in two research labs, both in the BME department. They are both computational biology labs. The first is more about genetics and protein structures, while the second one is involved with computer vision. I’m also a tour guide on campus and I do a lot of stuff with admissions. And I’m an Intro to Business TA.

HMDN: What is something you want to do before you die?
LI: Have an equation named after myself.

HMDN: What’s your favorite equation? Or rule or principle?
LI: The Laplace transform. I’ve been forced to love them by the BME department.

HMDN: If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?
LI: Madonna. My childhood dream was to be a pop star. I’m still working on it if this whole BME thing doesn’t work out.

Shrivats Iyer
Junior, graduating a year early
Hometown: Born in India and moved to the United Arab Emirates when he was three years old.
BME Concentration: Cell and Tissue Engineering

HMDN: Can you describe your team’s project?
SI: We are building a free flap transplant tissue monitor. Quite often in plastic and reconstructive surgery, one needs to create a flap. A flap is a collection of tissue that you take from a healthy site of the patient and transplant to a site you need healthy tissue. Maintaining blood flow through this connection is critical to maintaining the health of the flap. Early detection of obstruction of this flow allows surgeons to save the flap. We are building a device that will monitor health of the flap in a real time manner, detecting and alerting surgeons as soon as the flap begins to fail.

HMDN: Can you tell us a little about your team?
SI: We have two seniors and four juniors. Four of the members are BME and one is an electrical engineering major. In terms of background, we mostly come from instrumentation backgrounds.

HMDN: What are you plans after you graduate?
SI: Currently I’m in the process of applying to graduate school, Ph.D. and Masters programs. After that, I haven’t decided, but the prospect of medical school is still on the horizon.

HMDN: If you had ten dollars and one day to spend it, what would you do?
SI: I’d spend a day sitting in a café reading the latest Terry Pratchett. One of the things I wish I could do more is read. I used to read a book a day in high school, and design team means I have lost the ability to do that.

HMDN: Other than design team, what else are you involved with at Hopkins?
SI: Woodrow Wilson Debate Council. On the weekends I debate. In terms of what I do for research, I work in the neuroengineering and neuroinstrumentation labs, developing signal processing algorithms and techniques to assess and hcaracterize spinal cord injury.

HMDN: What is something you want to do before you die?
SI: Discover something.

HMDN: If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be?
SI: Vikram Seth, he’s an author I really like.