Dr. Mehdi Razavi and Allison Post, Ph.D. from the Texas Heart Institute, and Parag Jain and Satid Thammasitboon from Texas Children’s Hospital are partnering with Rice University’s Sabia Abidi and Kirsten Ostherr to inspire the next generation of healthcare innovators.

“We are excited and eager to participate in an education program with Rice University and Texas Children’s Hospital that will expose students to many facets of medical research. The partnerships established through this grant are uniquely poised to meet the NIH mission of increasing underrepresented groups in this line of work, which is highly aligned with our educational mission. I wish this kind of opportunity had been available to me as a student!,” said Dr. Post.

Rice University was awarded grant funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop the new undergraduate bioengineering curriculum that emphasizes inclusive design principles for students pursuing careers in medicine or medical technology.

The curriculum, developed by Sabia Abidi and Kirsten Ostherr, aims to address inequities in healthcare and expose students to complex clinical settings. The program will include observation of clinical settings in a pediatric intensive care unit and a cardiology and heart surgery center, as well as lessons on physiology, technology, communication, entrepreneurship, and healthcare disparities. The goal is to cultivate a human-centered approach to medical design that considers the needs of underserved populations.

Read Full Story by Silvia Cernea Clark  in RICE NEWS  Rice bioengineering curriculum cultivates a human-centered approach to medical design