HSOC-458: Innovating Medical Devices

The goal of the ABI program is to teach students a framework for developing medical device innovations that address unmet clinical needs and opportunities and to prepare students for careers in healthcare, product development, and entrepreneurship. The course consists of a series of weekly lectures from industry experts which are intended to complement practical experience that students gain through an interdisciplinary team-based project. The course is a 2 term course held at the UCLA Anderson School of Business in Westwood, CA. The course is hosted by the California nanoSystems Institute (CNSI), the incubator wing of UCLA's science departments. During the Spring Term, the project teams select an unmet clinical need identified within the UCLA Health System, and teams are tasked with brainstorming and developing concepts to solve these medical needs. Lectures include invited guest speakers and panels composed of UCLA faculty as well as industry representatives from venture capital, medical device, design and law firms. Students develop design concepts, engineering approaches and business models for launch success. The Summer Term of the course focuses on concept refinement, prototyping, provisional patent submission, and building a business plan and investor pitch deck. Additionally, this quarter each project team is assigned an industry mentor to provide guidance on the product development process and entrepreneurship as it relates to medical devices. The culmination of the course is the completion of a business plan and pitch by each project team, which will be presented to a panel of venture capitalists at the end of quarter.