Dr Shariq Ali Khan, Director of Device Development, collaborated with SingHealth Medical Technology Office and Duke-NUS Office of Clinical Academic Development to organise the inaugural ANAES ACP MedTech Workshop.
An inaugural ANAES ACP MedTech workshop was held via zoom on Saturday, 26 February 2022, from 8.30 am to 12.15 pm. The event was a jointly collaborative effort between the SingHealth Medical Technology Office (MTO), Duke-NUS Office of Clinical and Academic Development, and ANAES ACP, led by Dr Shariq Ali Khan, the ACP Director for Device Development. Designed to help faculty and staff involved in the innovation process, the workshop featured six fundamental topics: Intellectual Property Management, Regulatory Strategy, Reimbursement and Business Planning, Need analysis, Concept analysis and Internal funding ecosystem. The organizing committee brought together an interdisciplinary team of experts in IP, regulatory, internal funding system and business partner to walk through the needs-driven innovation process to solve medical problem. The main topics and speakers of the workshop were:
Core knowledge 1: IP management by Dr Lye Whye Kei, Director, SingHealth Office of Intellectual Property (SHIP)
Core knowledge 2: Regulatory strategy by Dr James Leong, Education Head, Centre of Regulatory Excellence, Duke-NUS
Core knowledge 3: Reimbursement and business planning by Mr Chris Hardesty, Partner, Pureland Group
Putting it altogether 1: Need analysis by Dr Bryan Ho, Singapore Biodesign Fellow
Putting it altogether 2: Concept analysis by Dr Bryan Ho
Internal funding ecosystem by Mr Paul Tan, Director, SingHealth Office for Innovation
A total of 43 attendees from all the departments in the ACP and SHARP joined the workshop. The feedback was positive with the highest rating towards the speakers’ knowledge and expertise.
The workshop provided information for the SingHealth Anaesthesia community to conduct Medtech project with confidence. This is part of the ACP’s quest to promote and build an innovation culture in which creative thinking and efforts to improve clinical services and clinical outcomes are welcomed and well supported.
It is known that innovative culture is desirable and valued by both leaders and employees, yet the complex process and lack of knowledge about the supportive network for innovation might deter some from pursuing their ideas. This workshop thus helped provide valuable insights in the process, elements required and available resources within SingHealth Duke-NUS AMC for a successful Medtech project. It will contribute to the efforts by the Academic Medicine Centre to advance academic medicine in several aspects: (1) supporting and developing clinician innovator talent, and (2) ultimately improving patients’ lives through research and innovation.
For any faculty with an interest in MedTech but couldn’t join the workshop, the record of the event can be accessed here (internet required).