Medical Devices Center : About

The Medical Devices Center at the University of Minnesota is a new interdisciplinary program that sits within the Institute for Engineering in Medicine. The Center has a combined mission of basic research, applied and translational research, education and training, and outreach and public engagement all related to medical devices.

The Medical Devices Center aims to strengthen interdisciplinary research among faculty in the health sciences and engineering specifically related to medical devices. The center will help train the next generation of medical device inventors and foster new relationships with the successful Twin Cities medical device industry and various government agencies in an effort to improve health care worldwide.

The MDC has many roles within the U of M including:

Acceleration of interdisciplinary medical device R&D
Distribute funding for creation of new medical devices based on a peer review process
Focus on projects that need a boost to achieve national prominence or generate important Intell Program
Create a Core Lab with common use equipment for creative prototypes
Facilitate connections to other Centers and Labs
Support U of M functions related to medical devices
Support the teaching/training programs of departments related to medical devices
Actively interface with the medical device industry
Focus on improvement of health care world-wide

Art Erdman, a long-time University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor, has been chosen as director of the Medical Devices Center July 1, 2007. Dr. Erdman has been a faculty member at the University since 1971, and holds more than 30 patents, many for medical devices. Dr. Erdman has collaborated with faculty in many departments within the Academic Health Center. In addition, he leads the University’s new Minimally Invasive Medical Technologies Center (MIMTeC), a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center providing translational research that will enable medical device companies to bring the next generation of minimally invasive medical technologies to market. Dr. Erdman also has served as chair of the University’s annual Design of Medical Devices Conference.

As director of the new Medical Devices Center, Dr. Erdman will work to strengthen interdisciplinary research among faculty in the health sciences and engineering specifically related to medical devices. The Medical Devices Center is part of the new Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM).

IEM is a new initiative jointly sponsored by the University’s Institute of Technology and the Medical School. This interdisciplinary research organization unites Medical School and engineering faculty and counterparts in the community to create new medical devices, solve clinical problems, and promote collaboration with industry. IEM will serve as an umbrella organization that will connect and amplify research efforts between the medical biosciences and the various engineering departments and the physical sciences.

Medical Devices Center : About

Acceleration of interdisciplinary medical device R&D

Distribute funding for creation of new medical devices based on a peer review process

Focus on projects that need a boost to achieve national prominence or generate important Intell Program

Create a Core Lab with common use equipment for creative prototypes

Facilitate connections to other Centers and Labs

Support U of M functions related to medical devices

Support the teaching/training programs of departments related to medical devices

Actively interface with the medical device industry

Focus on improvement of health care world-wide