Community Health Facilitators
Amit Shah, M.D.
Amit Shah, M.D. completed his medical school training at Baylor College of Medicine in 2002. He then went on to his residency in Internal Medicine at University of Illinois-Chicago, followed by a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine from Johns Hopkins University. He is a great advocate for community health, specifically in the field of geriatrics, and also serves as an outstanding teacher at UT Southwestern, as evidenced by his Excellence in Education Teaching Award in 2009. His research interest includes primarily the education of medical students, interns, and residents in geriatric medicine. He has been involved with this elective in the past and is an outstanding and helpful resource during the process of innovating and implementing project ideas from students.
Mary Beth Westerman
Mary Beth is a second year medical student at UT Southwestern. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a combined degree in Chemistry and Psychology. She became interested in community health after leading Dartmouth students and faculty on community rebuilding efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi, following Hurricane Katrina. She is currently a manager of The Monday Clinic, part of North Dallas Shared Ministries, which offers free health care to the uninsured population of North Dallas. Mary Beth participated in the community health track of the elective class last year, and is looking forward to continuing her work with the class as a facilitator.
Shariar Akter
Shariar is a second year medical student at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX. He graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor's of Science in Biology, with minor in Medicine and Society. He has been involved in extensive community healthcare work since high school and has volunteered at a free clinic in Houston as Assistant Director for 4 years. During his time at the clinic and other work, he has gained priceless experiences and learned valuable lessons in delivering effective healthcare to underserved and minority populations. From aspects of gaining access to funding from local resources to working one on one with patients to truly meet their needs, he hopes to share his learned lessons with other students by being a course facilitator for the Innovating Healthcare Solutions elective at UT Southwestern.
Global Health Facilitators
Abigail Smith
Abigail is a second year medical student who grew up in Houston and graduated from Princeton University. She has always been involved in global health and traveling, studying abroad in Chile during college and later writing her thesis on development strategies in Chile and Venezuela. After graduation, Abigail lived in Kampala, Uganda for a year, working as the Global Health Technical Writer for Plan International, managing and reporting on PMTCT and commercial sex worker rehabilitation projects, and training as a midwife in a Kampala slum’s clinic. At UT Southwestern, Abigail is an officer in the Global Health Interest Group (GHIG) and helps coordinate and lead the Ede Jodi spring break trip to Haiti. She plans to continue working in the global health field throughout her career as a physician and can’t wait to start innovating here!
Aparna Ramanathan, M.D.
Aparna is an Ob/Gyn resident physician at UT Southwestern who founded this course three years ago as a second year medical student hungry for opportunities to get out of the classroom and to make real positive impacts in underserved communities. Herself an alumnus of MIT, she designed this course to emulate the strong traditions of creative thinking, community partnership, and sustainable design which she learned from Amy Smith, the renowned inventor and lecturer. Aparna has had experience working on award-winning innovative design ventures both domestically and in several countries worldwide including Haiti, India, Ghana, and Peru, and she loves to share her experience and passion with students interested in making a difference. She has been thrilled by the projects created by her students in past years, and she is excited for more this year! Aparna received her bachelor of science degree in brain and cognitive science from MIT and her medical degree from UT Southwestern. In her free time, she enjoys singing and theater, yoga, and running half-marathons.
Desh Mohan
Desh is a second-year medical student at UT Southwestern. He is an alumnus of MIT, where he first became interested in global development. Through world-renowned innovator, Amy Smith's MIT Development Lab course, he learned concepts of experiential learning, appropriate design, and sustainable development. Desh has experience working on successful health design initiatives in Tanzania and India, and has worked closely with the community of Pont Sonde, Haiti, which will be a focus point of the global health track. He is excited to apply what he has learned into teaching and looks forward to a successful year!
Will Morris
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Will is a fourth year medical student at UT Southwestern. He graduated from the University of Southern California with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and Spanish. During his time in Los Angeles, he first grew interested in community health while working as a volunteer Spanish interpreter at a local community clinic. This interest continued to grow in medical school as he served as a manager of The Monday Clinic, a student-run acute care clinic for the underserved community surrounding UT Southwestern. Alongside his managerial responsibilities at the clinic, Will focused on Patient Education and worked in conjunction with the Innovating Healthcare Solutions course to implement a drug information placard program with patient prescriptions to improve medication literacy among patients. He is excited to remain involved with the program and looks forward to providing insight on future projects.
Will is a fourth year medical student at UT Southwestern. He graduated from the University of Southern California with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and Spanish. During his time in Los Angeles, he first grew interested in community health while working as a volunteer Spanish interpreter at a local community clinic. This interest continued to grow in medical school as he served as a manager of The Monday Clinic, a student-run acute care clinic for the underserved community surrounding UT Southwestern. Alongside his managerial responsibilities at the clinic, Will focused on Patient Education and worked in conjunction with the Innovating Healthcare Solutions course to implement a drug information placard program with patient prescriptions to improve medication literacy among patients. He is excited to remain involved with the program and looks forward to providing insight on future projects.
Medical Technology Facilitators
Adam Cohen
Adam Cohen is an entrepreneur, executive, and innovator with over 50 issued U.S. patents. He is an engineering professor at SMU and CEO of innoNovo, a Dallas-based engineering and product design/development consultancy specializing in medical devices and advanced manufacturing processes. Adam founded and served as CTO of Microfabrica, a company backed by top-tier VCs: the company produces unique micro-products including instruments for minimally-invasive procedures. He established Microfabrica's medical device business and led the development of a variety of devices. Adam is also a pioneer of the Additive Manufacturing(AM) industry, having led the development of the first commercial AM system and industry workhorse, with over $100M in sales. He later founded and edited Rapid Prototyping Report, the first periodical for the AM industry, and then co-founded and served as VP R&D of publicly-traded Soligen, the first company to commercialize MIT's 3D Printing. Adam subsequently was a project Leader at USC's Information Sciences Institute, where he invented and developed with DARPA funding MICA Freeform (aka EFAB), a unique 3-D micromanufacturing technology commercialized by Microfabrica. He received a bachelor of science degree in physics from MIT.
Ankur Gupta
Ankur is a second-year medical student at UT Southwestern, having previously earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. While at Stanford, he was inspired by Biodesign, a course taught by Dr. Paul Yock, wherein he learned how to approach problems/inefficiencies observed in clinical settings and subsequently brainstorm, develop, and implement feasible solutions. Additionally, he is passionate about the field of Regenerative Medicine. As an aspiring physician, scientist, and innovator, he hopes to stay creative as he learns the art of medicine. When not studying, he enjoys playing tennis, road trips, and catching up on sleep!
Edward Livingston, M.D.
Edward H. Livingston, M.D. completed his medical training at the
University of California at Los Angeles in 1985. In 1987 he completed a
fellowship at Wadsworth VA Hospital as a CURE Research Fellow. He
joined the staff at UCLA in 1992 where he served as the Vice-Chairman of
Surgery and Surgery Service Line Director at the VAMC-Greater Los
Angeles for six years. He remained there until he accepted the position
of Chairman of GI/Endocrine Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center
in 2003. In 2007 he was appointed as Professor of Bioengineering at the
University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Livingston is a Contributing
Editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association. In 2010 Dr.
Livingston was appointed Chairman of the Joint Graduate Program in
Biomedical Engineering at UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical
Sciences.
Varun Rachakonda
Varun Rachakonda is a third year medical student at UT Southwestern and has a bachelor's of science degree in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He first became interested in medical device innovation after taking a class taught by professors in Stanford's Biodesign department. After getting his first glimpse of the med tech industry, Varun went on to lead the Stanford Student Biodesign organizationfor two years, and also enhanced his knowledge of this field by doing internships at two startup medical device companies (Endothelix Inc. and OptiMedica Corp.) and a product design firm called Lunar Design. Varun has also worked on a few device projects on his own and is very passionate about creating more awareness about technology innovation in the medical field. He is interested in pursuing a career in a surgical subspecialty and looks forward to bridging the gap between doctors and engineers.