Bluegrass Biodesign, a 9-month biomedical program, continues its impactful contributions to ULSOM’s mission of shaping well-rounded physicians. Now in its fourth year, this collaborative program between ULSOM and the Speed School of Engineering serves as a dynamic incubator for medical device innovation. Medical students identify unmet clinical needs, while engineering students craft prototypes to address these challenges.

Recently, ULSOM students Theresa Weis, Emily Haleman, Iona Palmer, and Nia Bard alongside Speed School students Meghan Kane, Gabrielle Veron, and Zachary Collins achieved second place at the Speed School Engineering Design and Innovation Showcase for their project “Increasing Accessibility and Changing the Stigma Around Kegel Exercises.” The students were also finalists at the first Global Summit of the Global Consortium on Innovation and Engineering in Medicine, hosted by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

The team’s innovative medical device was designed to replace the invasive, uncomfortable, and suboptimal devices that are currently used for erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence treatments in men. With the newly created device, external patches are used to send real-time biofeedback to an app via Bluetooth during Kegel exercises, guiding men through the proper techniques and providing important education on men’s health topics.

According to the students, the goal of creating the PelviTech3™ was to increase the number of men doing Kegel exercises on a regular basis to meet their pelvic floor needs, relieve sexual health issues, and improve overall quality of life. But, according to Dr. Kellen Choi, the faculty member who helped oversee the team’s project, this wasn’t the only positive outcome from the device.

“Beyond their achievements, the students contributed to themselves as future physicians in ways they didn’t realize possible,” shared Dr. Kellen Choi.  “By creating a medical device to specifically fill a gap in medicine, these students learned first-hand how important biomedical research is and just how life-changing innovative technology can be in health care.”

Particularly interested in mitigating the delay between discoveries made in the lab and translation to the bedside, ULSOM second-year student Theresa Weis aims to use what she has learned to drive therapeutic development for better outcomes in patients with cancer. Emily Haleman, also a second-year medical student, shared that innovation has always been a key part of how she sees herself as a physician, but this experience solidified that commitment.

Congratulations Theresa, Emily, Iona, and Nia for your recent accolades! As we celebrate Biomedical Research Awareness Day today, we hope you feel immensely proud of the impact you will make for decades to come through your new biomedical device.