Medventions Internship Program
Fall 2024 Recruitment (September - December)
Overview
Medventions internship program is a fast-paced, project-based training structure for students and recent graduates with a passion for entrepreneurship and a commitment to improving health care for patients around the world through technology innovation and commercialization.
Over four months, multidisciplinary teams of aspiring medical technology innovators work closely with academic and industry advisors to identify and validate clinical needs, develop and prototype new health technology solutions, and become well-positioned to plan for their commercialization and implementation into patient care.
The physician-led, hospital-based internships are designed to provide participants with an immersive, hands-on training experience to understanding rules of the road of health technology innovation. Participants will become familiar with the fundamental aspects from developing an idea to commercial success, gaining knowledge of the role of intellectual property management, regulatory pathways, reimbursement mechanisms, funding models, and business strategy in the successful commercialization of new medical device technologies. Interns will also become familiar with prototyping tools and techniques and their application in the medtech field.
Internships are considered a jump-start for clinicians, engineers, researchers, and business graduates who are interested in pursuing a career in medical technology entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. Participants can apply their talent to build their own health start-ups, lead translational research projects and become savvy experts in various aspects of the health technology innovation process.
Position Summary
The Medventions program currently has several openings for a temporary full-time Medventions intern. Selected candidates will work together as a group, under the supervision of clinical and research mentors in the Schulich Heart Program. The team will get the opportunity to uncover innovation and translational research opportunities in the field of cardiovascular disease, image-guided therapy, and artificial intelligence.
Position Responsibilities & Essential Functions:
\The configuration of the Medventions internship program allows interns to get involved in clinical immersion, identification and verification of clinical problems, ideation, and the making of an early proof of concept or a prototype for a new medical device.
The four-month internship is divided into three main phases with the following structure:
- Phase 1: Clinical needs identification, verification, and assessment
- Phase 2: Ideation and brainstorming
- Phase 3: Concept development, product design and prototyping
Generally, interns are required to:
- Perform clinical observations through shadowing physicians in operating rooms, rounds in the intensive care units, catheterization laboratory, patients’ floors, outpatient clinics, etc.
- Identify and document clinical challenges that impose a significant clinical burden
- Complete thorough analysis for the identified problems; this includes a stakeholder and market analysis, and a study for the disease state fundamentals and treatment options. Interns will also research and consult with faculty & perform literature and patent searches.
- Develop a medical solution concept that addresses the clinical need and problem identified
- Translate the final concept into a prototype – the goal is to use prototyping to create design requirements and generate high-level specifications related to technical feasibility for the innovation under consideration
Skills and Qualifications
The ideal candidate is an individual with a strong entrepreneurial drive, passion for health care innovation and a desire to build something with a strong positive impact, and demonstrated potential for creativity, invention, leadership and business development.
We believe the following qualifications will help interns become successful:
- Entrepreneurial mindset; action and detail oriented, analytical, sees problems as opportunities, comfortable with ambiguity, self-learner with strong business acumen
- Proven ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team
- Demonstrated excellence in problem-solving, decision making, and critical thinking
- Highly motivated individual with the ability to work under pressure
- Strong interest in innovation and change across health care, design thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity
- Proven excellent interpersonal skills and effective oral/written communication skills
- Background/experience in medicine, engineering and/or business is an asset
How to Apply
Please address your resume and one-page cover letter to Dr. Brian Courtney and submit them to Dr. Ahmed Nasef at ahmed.nasef@sunnybrook.ca. In your cover letter, please include an answer to the following question: (do not exceed 1 page): Why is medical technology innovation an important part of your career pathway? Also, please include a copy of your undergraduate transcript (and graduate transcript if applicable), and the names of two referees who have agreed to be contacted.
Deadline for applications is end of day June 21, 2024. We thank all applicants for their interest but only candidates short-listed for interview will be contacted. Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
Compensation: This is a temporary full-time paid internship. Compensation commensurate with experience.
Sunnybrook Research Institute is committed to providing accessible employment practices that are in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). If you require accommodation for disability during any stage of the recruitment process, please indicate this in your cover letter.