Innovation Lab Introduces Design Thinking to CHOC Children’s Student Interns

By Staff | July 11, 2019

Newport Beach, Calif. — Innovation Lab, the Innovation Institute’s national medical product incubator in Newport Beach, hosted a Design Thinking workshop today as part of their contribution to the summer internship program, which is part of the Sharon Disney Lund Medical Intelligence and Innovation Institute (MI3) at CHOC Children’s. The unique program gives high school and college students the unique opportunity to explore the future of health care.

The fully booked workshop was held at the Innovation Lab.  The program is open to applicants in high school, college, graduate school or medical school who are already interested in, or are merely exploring the possibility of a career in the health care field. Students must be at least of high school age to participate. According to a CHOC spokesperson,  students are immersed in seven emerging areas that are relevant to the future practice of pediatric medicine:

  • Genomic Medicine and Personalized Medicine
  • Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells
  • Nanomedicine
  • Robotics and Robotic Surgery
  • Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
  • Medical Devices and Mobile Technology
  • Innovations in Health Care Delivery

“As part of our role, we are teaching students design thinking at the beginning of the program to help them better identify opportunities for potential innovation and then work with their mentors, patients and families to ideate and come up with new potential solutions,” said Innovation Lab National Director Suzy Engwall.

The Design Thinking workshop helps students gain an understanding of human-centered design methodology for innovative thinking and problem solving. They are taught:

  • How to develop a mindset to identify problems and those they affect;
  • Practice skills that enable them to gain an empathetic perspective around a problem they have identified;
  • How to translate insights to truly define a problem and value proposition;
  • Practice ideation as a team;
  • How to gain knowledge of rapid prototyping concepts with hands-on activities.

About Innovation Lab

The Innovation Lab is a subsidiary of The Innovation Institute, an independent, for-profit limited liability corporation structured to cultivate innovative solutions to transform health care delivery. Its three distinct elements include the Innovation Lab, which taps into physicians, employees, and industry business partners to incubate and commercialize new medical products and ideas; an investment fund; and a shared services group (Enterprise Development Group). The Institute is owned by non-profits health systems who together strive to “do more, with less, for more people.” For more information, visit lab.ii4change.com.

Media Contact:

Francine Marlenée, 714.735.3767 or francine.marlenee@ii4change.com

Posted in Press Releases