Drs. Sabia Abidi and Kirsten Ostherr directed a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical immersion program in Summer 2024. Karla Balleza, Hamza Saeed, Sanjay Soni, Priyanka Subramanian, and Andrew Sun (Rice Bioengineering undergraduate students) conducted needs-finding assessments for device and technology design through a health equity lens in clinical settings at Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) and Texas Heart Institute (THI). The identified design gaps were then proposed for Rice Bioengineering Capstone Senior Design Projects. Three projects are being pursued this year in design. Additionally, student case studies focused on inclusive design have been incorporated into the Capstone curriculum.

Additional mentors include Drs. Satid Thammasitboon (TCH), Khayri Shalhoub (TCH), Parag Jain (UT Southwestern Medical Center), Mehdi Razavi (THI/Baylor College of Medicine) as co-investigators, Tracy Volz (Rice) as a communications coach, and Casey Howard (Rice) as a needs-finding mentor.

Photo: Dr. Sabia Abidi, Andrew Sun, Karla Balleza, Priyanka Subramanian, Hamza Saeed, Sanjay Soni. Texas Children’s Hospital.