Biomedical Engineering for Global Health

Course Syllabus

 

Course Description:
This course provides an overview of contemporary technological advances to improve human health. We will consider four questions throughout the semester:

(1) What are the problems in healthcare today?
(2) Who pays to solve problems in healthcare?
(3) How can we use science and technology to solve healthcare problems?
(4) Once developed, how do new healthcare technologies move from the lab to the bedside?

We will compare and contrast answers to these questions throughout the developed and developing worlds. We will also consider legal and ethical issues associated with developing new medical technologies. During the semester, we will use case studies to examine a number of diseases and healthcare technologies. The course stresses active learning with many web-based and group activities. Students will choose a disease and a health technology they are interested in to examine in more detail.

Prerequisites:                                                
None                                                                                   

Method of Instruction:
The course will consist of two lectures per week. Daily reading assignments will complement material covered in class.  Students will work in teams to develop and implement an interactive educational activity focusing on health technologies for low resource settings. 

Textbook:
The Biomedical Engineering for Global Health textbook can be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/Biomedical-Engineering-Global-Health-Cambridge/dp/0521877970.

Method of Evaluation:
Two in-class exams will be given and will focus on readings and material covered in lecture.  Homework and/or project assignments are due on a weekly basis. Teams will give a final presentation related to their project, including submission of a prototype and final report.

Grading:
                        Attendance/Class participation                       5%                            
                        Homework                                                      15%
                        Class exams (15% each)                               30%                            
                        Project                                                             50%    
                        Total                                                              100%

Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course, you will be able to:

  1. Discuss the major human health problems in the world today
    1. Describe the function of the World Health Organization.
    2. Define and calculate incidence, morbidity, and mortality.
    3. Contrast health problems in the developing and developed worlds.
    4. Describe the pathophysiology of the three leading causes of death in the developing and developed worlds.
    5. Describe the Grand Challenges in Global Health which can have the greatest impact on health in developing nations.
  2. Discuss who pays for health care in the world today.
    1. Contrast the multi-payer US system with the single payer Canadian system.
    2. Contrast the availability of healthcare in the developed and developing worlds.
    3. Describe how health care expenditures have changed over time.
    4. Describe the major contributors to health care costs.
    5. Describe the efforts to reform Medicare funded health care in Oregon.
  3. Discuss the process of medical technology development
    1. Describe the scientific method.
    2. Describe the engineering design method.
    3. Contrast the scientific method and the engineering design method.
    4. Describe the steps of technology assessment.
    5. Critically analyze a cost/benefit analysis for a new medical technology from the point of view of:
      1. Patient
      2. Payer
      3. Society
  4. Describe the engineering development and assessment of technologies to address the following clinical needs:
    1. Prevention of infectious diseases
      1. Disease causing microorganisms
      2. Immunity
      3. How do vaccines work?
      4. Pathophysiology of HIV infection
      5. HIV Vaccine Development
        1. Gene therapy for prevention of HIV infection
        2. Clinical trials of HIV vaccines
        3. Costs of HIV vaccines
        4. Cost-effectiveness of HIV vaccines
    2. Early detection of cancer
      1. Pre-cancer and cancer transformation
      2. Detection of morphologic changes
        1. Pap smear - world impact, sensitivity and specificity
        2. New optical technologies for cancer imaging - sample size calculation
      3. Molecular biology of cancer
      4. Detection of molecular changes - serum biomarkers of cancer
        1. PSA - patient outcomes
        2. CA125 - patient outcomes
      5. Gene chips for molecular characterization of cancer
    3. Treatment of heart disease
      1. The circulatory system
      2. Atherosclerosis
      3. MI
      4. Treatments for atherosclerosis
        1. CABG - Patient outcomes
        2. PTCA - Additive costs
        3. Laser Angioplasty - Moving target problem
      5. Heart failure
      6. Treatment for heart failure
        1. Transplant
        2. Total artificial heart
        3. LVAD
  5. Describe how clinical trials are designed, conducted and evaluated.
    1. Types of research involving humans
    2. What is a clinical trial?
      1. What is a sample size?
      2. Calculate a sample size
      3. Quantitative methods to describe clinical trials
  6. Ethics of clinical research
    1. Recognize some of the ethical violations in research that influenced the development of ethical principles and legal requirements currently governing research with human subjects.
    2. Understand the ethical guidelines for the conduct of research involving humans
    3. What is informed consent?
    4. Who can give informed consent?
  7. Describe how medical technologies are managed.
    1. Describe how health care research is funded.
    2. Describe the role of the FDA in approving new drugs and medical devices.
    3. Describe the factors which affect the diffusion of a new medical technology.
    4. Contrast the diffusion of vitamin C to treat scurvy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and MRI.
  8. Apply these principles to critically analyze a new medical technology in current development.
 
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Rice University | Department of Bioengineering
Funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute