Medical Engineering Seminar

The Pediatric Device Consortium (PDC) has served for 4 years as a platform for open brainstorming, creating solutions through a multidisciplinary approach and completing the cycle of device innovation from concept to commercialization.

The consortium's twice weekly meetings afford a venue for iteration of its 13 active projects and support for people with new ideas at any stage of development. These meetings are a sounding board for potential devices, project updates and future directions. The interactive web portal provides resources for education, collaboration and communication. The organization consists of a program administrator, principal investigators, partner programs, and specialists in product development, regulatory affairs, and intellectual property. Residents, engineers and students from a variety of disciplines work on physical devices and are surrounded by a diverse technological pool.

The model of the PDC has contributed to over 30 pediatric devices, with 3 projects in the clinical stages and one commercially available device. Research has been published in 15 peer-reviewed medical and engineering journals and presented at over 20 conferences. Meetings attract 12-20 people on average from different backgrounds. The PDC has raised more than $11 million as an impressive return on the Food and Drug Administration's $2 million investment.