Biomedical Design Program:
Grant allows worlds of medicine and engineering to collide By Lindsey Derrick
T
eamwork makes the dream work.
A phrase that is known all over the world, and in the case of a program featuring three University of Georgia departments, rings true to its core. DAWG, or Design Achieved with Generosity Engineering Capstone Design, is a biodesign program that partners the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, the UGA College of Engineering, and the UGA Innovation District. The Medical Partnership’s Dr. Jonathan Murrow and College of Engineering’s Dr. Cheryl Gomillion partnered up with Tim Martin and Kevin Wu from the Innovation District to come up with DAWG. The program began in the 2020-2021 academic year and is part of the College of Engineering’s Biological Engineering Senior Capstone Design course—the course is funded by a $30,000 VentureWell faculty grant and is modeled after the Biodesign Program at Stanford University.
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The PARTNERSHIP PULSE — 2021 Issue
The two-semester course provides opportunities for students to engage in solving real-world engineering design problems through application of knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. The program was initially piloted with the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine before Murrow assisted with placing students into medical clinical sites. The students were placed at the Piedmont Athens Regional Community Care Clinic in Athens for the first year. “My role as campus associate dean for research at the Medical Partnership is to try to connect UGA with clinical partners who might help support research or teaching,” said Murrow. During their time at the clinic, 20-25 students worked in teams to assess its needs. “The students worked with clinicians to ty to identify areas in their work, their day-to-day workflow, problems they faced while taking care of patients that could be solved by engineering solutions,” said Murrow.
