Spring Break
Biomed focuses on community
Anisha Madappa
Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: News
The Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems School has implemented "We Serve," the school's newest program that focuses on community outreach for students majoring in biomedical engineering.
The program provides an opportunity for biomedical engineering students to go to partnering non-profits, interact with the patients, use what they know in the classroom and apply it to assess the needs of the patients and design a solution that will benefit them.
Though the BME School is still developing many parts of the "We Serve" program, some of the partnering non-profits have already been put in place and include The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Ronald McDonald House, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital.
Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health, professor Banu Onaral said she felt the need for this program for BME students.
"We had not emphasized how [biomedical engineering] emphases humanity," Onaral said. "Biomedical Engineers are the perfect people to serve global, urban health. [We needed] to move from the lab to people."
Since the "We Serve" program is still not in its final form and many things are not yet set in stone, a definitive structure of the program is still up in the air. However, the BME School hopes that in full form, the program will act as a sub-curriculum where students have the option to participate. Some of the guidelines that BME School would like to put in place are having the students take courses, work with a partnering non-profit, create and perfect a design that would benefit the people in the non-profit and accumulate the right number of credits to graduate with a certification for "We Serve" that will accompany their degree.
A subset of "We Serve" is "We Serve Africa," which will focus on what BME can do to help the healthcare of countries in Africa.
One of the students helping develop this program is Alexa Karkenny, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. Karkenny volunteered in Costa Rica by teaching English and helping establish a library.
The program provides an opportunity for biomedical engineering students to go to partnering non-profits, interact with the patients, use what they know in the classroom and apply it to assess the needs of the patients and design a solution that will benefit them.
Though the BME School is still developing many parts of the "We Serve" program, some of the partnering non-profits have already been put in place and include The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Ronald McDonald House, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital.
Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health, professor Banu Onaral said she felt the need for this program for BME students.
"We had not emphasized how [biomedical engineering] emphases humanity," Onaral said. "Biomedical Engineers are the perfect people to serve global, urban health. [We needed] to move from the lab to people."
Since the "We Serve" program is still not in its final form and many things are not yet set in stone, a definitive structure of the program is still up in the air. However, the BME School hopes that in full form, the program will act as a sub-curriculum where students have the option to participate. Some of the guidelines that BME School would like to put in place are having the students take courses, work with a partnering non-profit, create and perfect a design that would benefit the people in the non-profit and accumulate the right number of credits to graduate with a certification for "We Serve" that will accompany their degree.
A subset of "We Serve" is "We Serve Africa," which will focus on what BME can do to help the healthcare of countries in Africa.
One of the students helping develop this program is Alexa Karkenny, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. Karkenny volunteered in Costa Rica by teaching English and helping establish a library.
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