Biomedical Frontiers: Stories with Innovators in Healthcare

What is innovation and why is it important to teach in an engineering program? Innovation has been defined as increasing value, which is increasing the benefits to cost ratio. Because innovation can be an ambiguous concept, it is important to develop a framework to guide the process. Since 2006, Dr. DiMeo has been coaching, consulting, and training processes of innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship for medical device innovation and healthcare impact.

Love this podcast? Write to us with ideas, feedback, and guest recommendations at [email protected]

Dr. Andrew DiMeo is a health innovator, biomedical engineer, design philosopher, and social entrepreneur. He began his career in New York, working on movies and TV shows, most notably The Sopranos. He has a BS in Physics and PhD in Biomedical Engineering and has spent most of his career teaching and practicing health innovation. In this episode of Biomedical Frontiers, we dive into Dr. DiMeo’s time teaching biomedical entrepreneurship at UNC and NC State, the teaching methodology and the philosophy for creating successful translational research classes, a new framework to help organizations innovate, and the future of STEM careers and education.

Dr. DiMeo has served as a Team Lead in NIH Programs, including RADx, ITAP, Blueprint MedTech, HIV Point of Care Testing, and C3i. He was previously a Professor of the Practice at UNC & NC State for 12 years where his students started multiple startups including 410 Medical, Contour Surgical, Augment Medical, Novocor Medical Systems, and MEDIC. He was co-founder of Gilero, founder of the NC Medical Device Trade Organization, and founder of CanvasGT, a SaaS startup acquired by Greenlight Guru. Today, you can find him mentoring the next generation of social entrepreneurs, working on his new venture, Hangar Dreys - a co-working concept in Raleigh, NC focused on addressing the loneliness epidemic.

Follow Dr. Andrew DiMeo on Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajdimeo/

IDEAL Biomedical Publication: https://medium.com/ideal-biomedical

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/andrewdimeo

Press Release about Springbok Analytics FDA approval:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/springbok-analytics-receives-fda-510k-clearance-for-muscleview-its-ai-muscle-health-analysis-from-a-rapid-mri-scan-302270603.html

Director & Host: Dasha Tyshlek, StratCraft, Inc. www.strat-craft.com

Executive Producer: David Chen, Managing Director & Instructor of Engineering Design, UVA

Senior Producer: Hannah Moore, Associate Director, UVA Coulter

Design Director: Carolyn Wagner, Inc. & Link: carolynwagnerinc.com

Produced on behalf of Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research at University of Virginia https://engineering.virginia.edu/centers-institutes/coulter-center-translational-research

How do we tackle the rising epidemic of anxiety with tools that actually scale? Why aren’t traditional therapy models enough? And how can digital technologies like mobile sensing and cognitive bias modification help close the treatment gap in mental health?

In this episode of Biomedical Frontiers, host Dasha Tyshlek sits down with Dr. Bethany Teachman, Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at the University of Virginia, to explore how digital mental health tools are being designed and tested to meet people where they are.

Dr. Teachman is the founder of MindTrails, a suite of app-based tools to help individuals reduce anxious thinking, and co-leads the UVA TYDE initiative (Thriving Youth in a Digital Environment). She brings a unique perspective as both a clinician and innovator developing tools rooted in science but built for the real world.

Topics Discussed:

• Why anxiety and depression are rising—and why therapy alone isn’t enough
• How mobile sensing and AI can detect anxiety through physiological, social, and environmental cues
• How MindTrails helps people shift negative thinking patterns
• What it takes to co-develop ethical and effective tech with engineers
• Challenges of building digital interventions people actually use
• The unique value a clinician brings to tech innovation

Resources Mentioned:

🔹 MindTrails: https://mindtrails.virginia.edu/science.html

🔹 UVA TYDE: https://tyde.virginia.edu/

🔹 Research Paper: Mobile Sensing and Anxiety Detection

🔹 Research Paper: CBM-I Digital Intervention Preprint

Follow Dr. Bethany Teachman:

• Lab Website: https://teachman.org
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-teachman-b78558236/

Follow Biomedical Frontiers for more:

📸 Instagram: @biomedicalfrontiers

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uvacoulter

📧 Reach us: [email protected]

Love this podcast? Write to us with feedback or guest recommendations!

Production Team:

Director & Host: Dasha Tyshlek, StratCraft, Inc. www.strat-craft.com

Executive Producer: David Chen, Managing Director & Instructor of Engineering Design

Senior Producer: Hannah Moore, Associate Director, UVA Coulter

Design Director: Carolyn Wagner, Inc. & Link: carolynwagnerinc.com

Produced on behalf of: Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research at University of Virginia

Investment is critical for advancing promising biomedical research out of the lab and into the hospital. Dr. Tom Skalak has worked widely on innovation ecosystems with the White House, U.S. Congress, and Fortune 500 CEOs and C-suites seeking cultures to advance creative ideation and implementation of innovations. He urges VCs to invest locally with research universities and shares his perspective of some of the most exciting, emerging fields of research.

Love this podcast? Write to us with ideas, feedback, and guest recommendations at [email protected]

Tom Skalak joined the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation in 2018 as Senior Advisor to Clara Wu Tsai and was previously the founding Executive Director of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group in Seattle, and Vice President for Research Emeritus at the University of Virginia. In these roles, Tom led creative synthesis of research and innovation programs spanning biosciences, environmental sustainability, physical sciences, engineering and technology, arts, design, entrepreneurship, and humanities. In this episode of Biomedical Frontiers, we dive into how small start-ups can grow and thrive in the competitive biomedical technology industry, innovative research in the discipline of protein design and the future applications, and the challenges in studying the emerging fields, human cognition and performance.

As Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at UVAs, Tom’s original research included:

cardiovascular biomechanics, computational modeling, wound repair, and regenerative medicine, conducted with continuous NIH funding over 28 years. He is a past president of both the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). He was the founder of the UVA-Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partnership and early-stage investment funds with corporate partners such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

Follow Dr. Tom Skalak on Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-skalak-81000611b/

Learn more about the Human Performance Alliance: https://humanperformancealliance.org/

Faculty profile: https://engineering.virginia.edu/faculty/thomas-c-skalak

The Wu Tsai Institute at Yale: https://wti.yale.edu/

Director & Host: Dasha Tyshlek, StratCraft, Inc. www.strat-craft.com

Executive Producer: David Chen, Managing Director & Instructor of Engineering Design, UVA

Senior Producer: Hannah Moore, Associate Director, UVA Coulter

Design Director: Carolyn Wagner, Inc. & Link: carolynwagnerinc.com

Produced on behalf of Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research at University of Virginia https://engineering.virginia.edu/centers-institutes/coulter-center-translational-research

Microvessels are a crucial part of our body’s circulatory system. They're responsible for delivering the oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body and are often devastated by diseases like Diabetes and Alzheimer's. Dr. Peirce-Cottler develops computational models and combines them with wet lab experiments to study how tissues heal after injury and to develop therapies for inducing tissue regeneration.

Love this podcast? Write to us with ideas, feedback, and guest recommendations at [email protected]

Dr. Shayn Peirce-Cottler the is Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering, with secondary appointments in the Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Plastic Surgery at the University of Virginia (UVA). In this episode of Biomedical Frontiers, we dive into the history and future of microvascular research, the observed connection between Alzheimer's and diabetes, and the future healthcare applications of computational modeling.

Dr. Peirce-Cottler received Bachelor’s of Science degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics from The Johns Hopkins University and her Ph.D. in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. She has published over 125 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, is a fellow in both the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows (AIMBE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). She was awarded the UVA School of Medicine’s Robert H. Kadner Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring. Her courses in cell and molecular physiology and computational systems bioengineering are foundational to the BME undergraduate and graduate studies at UVA.

Follow Dr. Shayn Peirce-Cottler on Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayn-peirce-cottler-a70993/

Check out Dr. Peirce-Cottler’s work: https://www.peircecottlerlab.com/

Recent publications from Shayn’s lab: https://www.peircecottlerlab.com/publications

Check out Dr. Shannon Barker's page: https://engineering.virginia.edu/faculty/shannon-barker

Read about combining synthetic biology, computational modeling, and machine learning to design and build tissues: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010701

Director & Host: Dasha Tyshlek, StratCraft, Inc. www.strat-craft.com

Executive Producer: David Chen, Managing Director & Instructor of Engineering Design, UVA

Senior Producer: Hannah Moore, Associate Director, UVA Coulter

Design Director: Carolyn Wagner, Inc. & Link: carolynwagnerinc.com

Produced on behalf of Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research at University of Virginia https://engineering.virginia.edu/centers-institutes/coulter-center-translational-research

Tissue engineering is an exciting field that promises to solve many health conditions, but there are several fundamental challenges that remain unsolved. Dr. Jennifer West is leading the field with research on novel techniques that promote vascularization (tissue blood supply) and mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) for tissue engineering applications. Dr. West’s lab focuses on biomaterials, nanotechnology, and tissue engineering, applying engineering approaches to study biological problems and address unmet medical needs.

Most recently, she is also a co-founder of Nanospectra Biosciences, a company commercializing a cancer therapy using gold nanoparticles for photothermal therapy. This unique, non-invasive technique is currently in human clinical trials. She is a uniquely prolific inventor, a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and has over 19 patents that have been licensed to eight different companies and across multiple engineering disciplines.

As the Dean of the Engineering School at University of Virginia Dr. West is guiding the trajectory of instruction, research and entrepreneurship at the University. She has promoted collaboration between engineering and medicine, expanded the biomedical engineering faculty and fostered numerous cross-school research collaborations with over $23 million in external funding. In this episode of Biomedical Frontiers: Stories with Innovators in Healthcare, she shares her vision for engineering at UVA.

Follow Dr. West on Social Media

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-west-a6107532/

Twitter: https://x.com/UVADeanJWest

Learn about Nanospectra Biosciences: https://nanospectra.com/

Learn about University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science: https://engineering.virginia.edu/

Director & Host: Dasha Tyshlek, StratCraft, Inc. www.strat-craft.com

Executive Producer: David Chen, Managing Director & Instructor of Engineering Design, UVA

Senior Producer: Hannah Moore, Associate Director, UVA Coulter

Design Director: Carolyn Wagner, Inc. & Link: carolynwagnerinc.com

Produced on behalf of Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research at University of Virginia https://engineering.virginia.edu/research/centers-institutes/coulter