Interdisciplinary Fellowship Training in the United States : Case of Stanford University's Biodesign Program(<SPECIAL REPORT>TOWARD INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT)

Abstract

This article presents an in-depth description of Stanford University's Biodesign, the post-graduate program established in 2001 with a mission to train a new generation of leaders in biomedical technology innovation. We examined the Biodesign's multidisciplinary curriculum in which the competitively selected fellows undergo an intensive 10.5-month training to identify clinical needs, find innovative solutions and plan business strategies for implementation. The strength of the Stanford Biodesign program lies in its unique selection of the applicants where the committee looks for the following "innovation personalities" (Brinton, et. al, 2013) and put them together as a team: (1) the builder (i.e. engineer), (2) the researcher (i.e. scientist), (3) the organizer (i.e. business expert), and (4) the clinician (i.e. medical doctor). The team members collaborate and learn from each other's expertise as they go through the intensive training. The multidisciplinary nature of Biodesign program enables the participants to acquire critical biomedical thinking, entrepreneurial resource, team-building skills and networking opportunities.