Level of interest
The survey results assessing potential interest in the BIM track are shown in Table 1. When asked about their current level of understanding in regard to commercialization and idea development, third year students (MS3) were the most informed, but they represented only a modest 27% of their class. Fourth year medical students (MS4) reported feeling the most uninformed. The level of interest in having innovation incorporated into the medical school curriculum was significant among UF undergraduates, post-baccalaureates, and medical students. The highest was among post-baccalaureates, with an 88% positive response rate. Similarly, a large proportion of surveyed students favored exposure to topics concerning business and innovation during medical school rather than during residency or while practicing as a physician. When queried about working on a team of engineers and medical students during medical school with a focus on developing an innovative idea, an overwhelming majority responded favorably. The survey was completed by 284 UF undergraduate students, 16 post-baccalaureates, 40 MS1s, 18 MS2s, 11 MS3s, and 6 MS4s.
Table 1. Survey results from University of Florida undergraduates and medical students concerning interest in the business and innovation discovery track
Survey question
|
UF undergraduate
|
Post-bac/other
|
MS1
|
MS2
|
MS3
|
MS4
|
Current understanding of commercialization and idea development
|
Very well informed
|
–
|
–
|
3%
|
17%
|
27%
|
0%
|
Somewhat informed
|
–
|
–
|
38%
|
28%
|
27%
|
17%
|
Uninformed
|
–
|
–
|
60%
|
56%
|
45%
|
83%
|
Level of interest in innovation incorporated into the medical school curriculum
|
|
83%
|
88%
|
73%
|
67%
|
82%
|
83%
|
When would you like to be exposed to topics concerning business and innovation (patents, business start-ups, etc.) during your medical education?
|
Medical school
|
82%
|
94%
|
83%
|
72%
|
91%
|
83%
|
Residency
|
8%
|
6%
|
13%
|
28%
|
9%
|
0%
|
Attending
|
6%
|
0%
|
3%
|
0%
|
0%
|
17%
|
Never
|
5%
|
0%
|
3%
|
0%
|
0%
|
0%
|
Level of interest in working on a team of engineers/medical students during medical school focused on developing an innovative idea
|
|
85%
|
88%
|
73%
|
61%
|
82%
|
83%
|
Total number of respondents
|
|
284
|
16
|
40
|
18
|
11
|
6
|
Popular topics of interest
A significant number of medical students and BME students expressed interest in the following topics: Food and Drug Administration regulations, Patent Law, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Ethics in Innovation, Finance and Wealth, Management, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, and advice from local entrepreneurs (Figure 1). Finance and Wealth Management was the most popular topic among medical students (72%), whereas Patent Law was the most favored among BME students (59%). The topic of Food and Drug Administration regulations received the most consistent support among undergraduates, post-baccalaureates, medical students, and BME students. Unsurprisingly, there was little support among BME students for an Introduction to Biomedical Engineering topic despite favorable responses from the other students.
Figure 1: Survey results regarding potential lecture topics.

Additional interest among BME students
BME students were also surveyed to gauge their interest in collaborating with medical students as part of the BIM curriculum (Table 2). This survey included responses from 35 sophomores, 45 juniors, and 34 seniors currently enrolled in the BME Department. A large majority of students (71% of sophomores, 79% of juniors, and 71% of seniors) supported the idea of working on a team of engineers and medical students for class credit or during free time. Support was also found when students were asked about enrolling in a class shared with medical students and other engineering students, as 89% of sophomores, 93% of juniors, and 91% of seniors reported being at least somewhat interested. There was only minor agreement that a course similar to our BIM course would influence their decision between undergraduate or graduate engineering schools.
Table 2. Survey results from biomedical engineering students at the University of Florida gauging interest in the business and innovation discovery track
Survey question
|
2nd Year
|
3rd Year
|
4th Year
|
Would you be willing to work on a team of engineers/medical students with a focus on developing an innovative idea in either a class for credit or on your own time?
|
Either
|
71%
|
79%
|
71%
|
Only for class credit
|
11%
|
5%
|
24%
|
Only during my free time
|
17%
|
16%
|
0%
|
What would be your level of interest in enrolling in a class shared with engineering and medical school students?
|
Very interested
|
51%
|
68%
|
62%
|
Somewhat interested
|
37%
|
21%
|
29%
|
Neutral
|
11%
|
5%
|
5%
|
Uninterested
|
0%
|
5%
|
5%
|
Would an engineering elective pertaining to “Business and Innovation in Medicine” that was shared with students from the College of Medicine influence your decision between undergraduate/graduate engineering schools?
|
Yes
|
34%
|
32%
|
52%
|
No
|
31%
|
32%
|
24%
|
Neutral
|
34%
|
37%
|
24%
|
Total number of respondents
|
|
35
|
19
|
21
|
Core educational competencies
While developing our BIM track, we used several partnerships, including university departments and their faculty resources, local community businesses, and hospital affiliations as conduits to incorporate the track’s core competencies (e.g., Law/Regulation, Business, Design/Prototyping), as represented in Table 3. All partnerships included at least two of the BIM track’s core competencies. Our most commonly used partnership were the various university colleges/departments: BME, Business, Engineering, Law, and Medicine. Of note, BME incorporated all three core competencies, while the Engineering Innovation Institute incorporated two (Law/Regulation and Business) of the three core competencies. In our case, the Law/Regulation core competency was most heavily emphasized using our university resources. The Business core competency was distinctively integrated into the track using local community businesses such as Exactech Inc. and other start-ups. The Design/Prototyping core competency was used throughout most partnerships, and most notably, our hospital affiliation (i.e., UF Health) heavily focused on this competency.
Table 3. The core competencies of the various local and University of Florida resources
Partnerships
|
Core Competency
|
Law/ Regulation
|
Business
|
Design/ Prototyping
|
University Departments
|
|
|
|
J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering
|
√
|
√
|
√
|
UF Warrington College of Business
|
|
√
|
|
UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering
|
|
|
√
|
UF Levin College of Law
|
√
|
|
|
UF Engineering Innovation Institute
|
√
|
√
|
|
UF College of Medicine
|
|
|
√
|
University Resources
|
|
|
|
UF Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator
|
√
|
√
|
|
UF Innovation Hub
|
√
|
√
|
|
UF Office of Technology Licensing
|
√
|
|
|
Gator Hatchery
|
|
|
√
|
Community Resources
|
|
|
|
Local Entrepreneurs
|
√
|
√
|
|
Start-up GNV
|
|
√
|
|
Health System Resources - UF Shands
|
|
|
|
Physician Innovators
|
|
|
√
|
UF Health Clinical and Translational Science Institute
|
|
|
√
|
UF Health Quality and Patient Safety
|
√
|
|
|
Program structure
The BIM course is among many Discovery Tracks at the UF COM that allows for extensive individual curriculum customization. A full curriculum outline is shown in Figure 2. Medical students of all years are permitted to enroll in the course; however, course optimization would entail a first year medical student’s enrollment during the first semester of medical school. All of the BIM track requirements can be completed in 3 years by shortening the Design/Prototyping period. The four-year longitudinal option begins during MS1 with a series of introductory and foundational lectures and seminars, which we term “Session A” of our track. This phase stems from the probability that our track’s participants will have diverse educational backgrounds and thus varying levels of engineering-, innovation-, and business-related acumen. Therefore, Session A was designed to provide standardized and minimally required knowledge for the following “Date Night” event and subsequent sessions. Date Night will bring together physician–innovators and students in a “meet and greet” environment to allow facilitation of ideas and present possible Capstone Projects to the students. Session B will take place during the following semester (2nd semester) and will comprise lecture topics that facilitate student development within the realm of innovation. Session C will continue during Year 2 of medical school. Of these lectures, an attendance of 75% is required. BIM lectures will also include guest seminars from local entrepreneurs and physician–innovators. Students are presented optional, yet recommended, sit-ins during BME lectures within their “Clinical Correlations” course, which exposes BME students to clinical problems. This course is an additional component to the track that allows for interdisciplinary communication. The Medical Student Research Project (MSRP) will also be available for BIM-specific research during the summer between MS1 and MS2. The MSRP program is a UF COM sponsored program that allows medical students to participate in research while being funded by UF. By incorporating MSRP into the BIM curriculum, valuable protected time is available for the development of ideas and can serve as the beginning of a Capstone Project.
Figure 2: Timeline demonstrating the component of the Business and Innovation Discovery Track. MSRP, medical student research project; UF, University of Florida; IRB, Institutional Review Board.

After Date Night, the recruitment (Build Team) and Design/Prototyping phase begins, which runs to the completion of the track. This phase allows for medical students to form an interdisciplinary team of engineers, business majors, graduate students, etc. This team will work to take on an existing or identify a new clinical problem and design a solution. The team’s progress will be developed into a required Capstone Project that will be presented at the end of the course for evaluation.
The Date Night milestone is an event consisting of an allotted time for track participants and a curated listing of investigators, physicians, and entrepreneurs who have current endeavors or ideas for potential innovative and entrepreneurial projects to discuss potential involvement, contributions, and responsibilities. This serves as a catalyst for our students to begin forming their Capstone Projects and provides a gateway to incorporating Capstone-related elements as early as the MSRP period.
Although our track is intended to be a longitudinal 4-year curriculum, students may opt to begin at the beginning of MS2. These students will enter at Year 1 and continue through Year 3 (Year 4 will not be available, as these students will have graduated). Unfortunately, a later start to the track will come at the expense of the aforementioned Date Night and less time and preparation for completion of a Capstone Project.