Parents are what make DesignWise Medical tick. Many of the kids we serve would have no voice without you, their parent. As a parent, there is nothing more important than the health of your child and DesignWise Medical offers many ways for you to be involved in the creation of solutions that can benefit not only your child but other children as well.

Share Your Ideas

You may very well be the first to discover a medical device need. DesignWise Medical gives you a voice and an outlet by which you can share your discovery and possible ways to address it. You can submit your ideas or provide input on projects in process through our Need/Idea submission process. Imagine being a resource in solving a problem that only children face.

Learn From Others

In addition, by joining the discussion with DesignWise Medical and the pediatric medical device community of concerned parents you’ll gain valuable insight and be reassured that other parents understand your perspective.  In addition, this community may be able to offer you further facts and information you may be looking for.

Join Us!

Help the effort at any level: spread the word, join product development efforts or serve on a committee. Find out how you can get involved.

DesignWise Medical looks to you, the professional care providers, at all levels for input and collaboration. Hospitals, community clinics, home care providers, pediatric physicians, nurses, therapists and other pediatric health care practitioners provide front line support and insight in identifying problems and the opportunities to solve them.  Because you know the children so well, DesignWise Medical looks to you to help guide the way.

DesignWise Medical offers many ways for you to be involved in the identification of unmet needs as well as the creation of solutions that will benefit the children.

If you’re a pediatric medical professional or entity and want to be part of our mission, join the effort now.

Tell us your Needs

You may have uncovered an unmet need in your daily practice and you might not be sure where to take it or what to do with this identified need. DesignWise Medical gives you an outlet by which you can share your discovery and possible ways to address it. You can submit your ideas or provide input on projects in process through our Need/Idea submission process. Finally an organization wants to hear of your ideas and will actually follow through on them.

Join Us!

Help the effort at any level: spread the word, join product development efforts or serve on a committee. Find out how you can get involved.

Hospital Partners

Hospital partners of DesignWise Medical assist in the following:

• Identifying unmet needs in pediatric health care
• Provide clinical basis for the need and current methods used in pediatric medicine
• Become clinical partner assisting in need/opportunity evaluation
• Serve as clinical advisers on development projects
• Provide objective feedback on potential solutions developed
• Assist in clinical evaluation plan and strategy for solutions

If your organization has interest in becoming a partner with DesignWise Medical please contact us at [email protected].

Disease Foundation Partners

Disease-focused organizational partners of DesignWise Medical assist in the following:

• Identifying unmet needs in pediatric health care
• Provide clinical basis for the need and current methods used in pediatric medicine
• Provide objective feedback on potential solutions developed
• Linking efforts with other disease-focused initiatives that exist globally as well as other clinical entities engaged in disease related research

If your organization has interest in becoming a partner with DesignWise Medical please contact us at [email protected].

DesignWise Medical uses a unique collaboration model [similar to ‘crowd-sourcing’] among its volunteer pool and partner institutions to identify unmet pediatric needs and coordinate resources to help with the design, development and commercialization of the corresponding pediatric medical device solutions.

Our needs identification and solution development are possible through generous contributions of time, dollars and resources from the following key collaborators:

• Parents – provide a first-person voice-of-the-customer about the challenges faced in their child’s medical care and how it affects their daily lives.
• Care providers – from hospitals to individual practitioners provide the front-line perspective of delivering primary health care to the children.
• Retired professionals – provide valuable resources, expertise, experience and perspective to the development of solutions for children.
• Current professionals – provide state-of-the-art expertise and critical connections vital to the development of solutions for children.
• Students – provide the horsepower, enthusiasm and momentum for developing the solutions for the children.
• Administrative volunteers – contribute in everything from website development and maintenance to documentation, public relations, fundraising and communications

While developing needed pediatric medical devices, DesignWise Medical will teach the new professional, challenge the current professional, and engage and fulfill the retired professional.

In addition the valuable contributions of individuals, DesignWise Medical partners with key organizations that share a similar mission of helping children’s health care:

• Children’s Hospital Partners – Pediatric Hospitals, disease foundations, community clinics and other pediatric health care organizations provide front line support and insight in identifying problems and the opportunities to solve them.
• Medical Industry Partners – medical device companies, manufacturing companies,  and associated entities assist with solution development and facilitate the commercialization activities to bring these solutions to the patients who need them.
• Educational Institutions – College and University departments and academic leaders as well as student project teams help the solution development process from the technical/engineering elements to business and market strategy to IP creation and legal filing.

Join the effort and contribute at any level desired, from simple idea suggestions to participation on a solution development team.

Contact DesignWise Medical to explore how you or your organization can engage with us in our process.

The volunteers highlighted below represent a sampling of the quality volunteers that have played a role in developing DesignWise Medical.  Those individuals below have had an especially important impact on getting us to where we are.  Our thanks go out to all these and our entire pool of volunteers.

We couldn’t do this without you!!

Annette Kaiser

Ms. Kaiser brings to DesignWise Medical over 20 years senior financial management experience in the for-profit manufacturing industry.  Ms. Kaiser recently retired from the CFO position at Capital Safety Limited, the market leading international manufacturer of Fall Protection equipment.    Ms. Kaiser also worked with Century Lincoln ( a division of Pentair), Hartzell Manufacturing Inc. and KPMG. She brings extensive experience in all areas of financial, human resource and legal management.  Ms. Kaiser has a CPA, an MBA from the University of Houston and a BS in Accounting from St Cloud State University.

Maria Breitenfeldt

Maria Breitenfeldt is a volunteer marketing and communications contributor to DesignWise Medical. She brings with her five years experience in scientific marketing and writing. She also has experience in research and teaching in academia, along with research and development, marketing, project management and technical writing experience in the biotech industry. Her background includes a B.S. from Yale and a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Minnesota.

Ben Valley

Ben graduated from the University of St. Thomas in the Spring of 2009 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering.  He originally started working with DesignWise Medical during his senior year on the OPOD project for the Senior Design program at St. Thomas.  After graduation Ben continued to work with DesignWise Medical, volunteering as a Mechanical Design Engineer and continued to make improvements on the OPOD project.  Ben is now working on a new type of endotracheal tube meant for neo-natal infants.

Janine Johnson

Janine Johnson is a volunteer project management contributor to DesignWise. Her background includes overseas roles as a medical illustrator, education center resource manager and postgraduate Art and Design faculty in New Zealand.  Local experience includes corporate sales education design in the healthcare insurance industry. She is currently project managing learning systems and curriculum design and development for a national corporation in the financial industry.

Patrick Gerber

Patrick Gerber is a principal software engineer at the Toro Company developing applications for product research.  Pat began working for Toro’s Center for Advanced Turf Technology in 2001 developing control systems for autonomous/electric vehicles.  From 1985 to 2001 he developed numerous new products for the burgeoning medical device industry.  Pat has over 35 years of experience specializing in instrumentation and control systems and holds a bachelor’s degree is Physics from Winona State University.

Ann Gettys

“I believe that the industry-academic partnership that UST and DesignWise Medical have been operating under is a model for the country…Interfacing with industry on critical problems with significant potential impact is paramount to inspiring our students to extend their knowledge and accomplish great things.”
Don Weinkauf 
Dean of Engineering University of St Thomas

DesignWise Medical partners with colleges and universities to collaborate jointly on development projects that will allow students interested in the medical device industry to gain real-world experience while contributing to the development of needed pediatric devices.  These real-world projects have much more meaning for the students than hypothetical situations as they are contributing to an effort that has true impact on people’s lives.

We work with world renowned engineering, design and business schools, sponsoring design and class projects within these institutions and employing student volunteers.

“By creating this medical design opportunity, industrial design students got a feel on how important good design is to the medical industry. During and after the project, the students were left with the knowledge that their design skills and ideas can make a difference to people and to the world…I have had the privilege to work with Brad Slaker from DesignWise Medical and to witness the impact his company has made on the industrial design students.”
Jennifer Astwood
Assistant Professor University of Wisconsin – Stout

Educational Partnership Activity and Relationships:

• University of St. Thomas
  • School of Engineering
  • Regulatory and Clinical Masters Program
• University of Wisconsin – Stout
  • Industrial Design Program – Arts and Design Department
  • Marketing Program – Business Department
• University of Minnesota
  • Mechanical Engineering Department
  • Biomedical Engineering Department
• St. Cloud State University
  • Regulatory Affairs and Services Graduate Program
• William Mitchell School of Law
  • Intellectual Property [IP] Clinic

2009 Fall – UofM Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project

Specialized Nebulizer Mask:

• Joe Bradley
• Laura Cullen
• Kevin Campbell
• Mike Thuente
• Brian Perszyk

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2009 Fall – University of Wisconsin – Stout Industrial Design Interactions Class Project

Vein Transilluminator Concept Development:

• Class of 30 Junior level Industrial Design students
• Faculty Advisor:  Jennifer Astwood
• Clinical Representative:  Rachel Michalski, RN

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2009 Fall – University of Wisconsin – Stout Industrial Design Interactions Class Project

Diabetes Management Devices Concept Development:

• Senior Industrial Design Student – Stephen Lambert
• Faculty Advisor:  Noah Norton

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2009 Summer Interns:

• Jennifer Seward – Senior, Industrial Design University of Wisconsin – Stout
• Thomas Hillebrand – Senior, Mechanical Engineering University of St. Thomas
• David Holt – Senior, Biomedical Engineering University of Minnesota
• Yaser Ahmed – Senior, Electrical Engineering University of Minnesota

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St. Cloud State University – Regulatory Affairs and Services Graduate Program

OPOD Regulatory Strategy:

Micki Duerre – Masters Capstone Project

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St. Cloud State University – Regulatory Affairs and Services Graduate Program

Summer 2009 – Quality Systems Class Project

[developed baseline Quality System for DesignWise Medical]

• Kelly Delfs
• Beatrice Evans
• Richard Ohm
• Jackie Schmainda
• Bruce Backlund
• Joan Bliss
• Jennifer Seehusen
• Melissa Slettedahl
• Matt Nienstedt

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University of Wisconsin – Stout, Industrial Design Project Team

OPOD Industrial Design Team, Winter 2009

• Greyson Smith
• Jennifer Seward
• Benjamin Heard
• Jenny Byrd
• Dave Keyes
• Hans Neilson
• Linnea Londborg
• Steve Lambert
• Noah Norton – Faculty Advisor

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University of St. Thomas School of Engineering Senior Design Project

OPOD Senior Design Project Team, Fall 2008 – Spring 2009

• Mechanical Engineers
  • Fuschia Hoover
  • Ben Valley
  • Jake Maida
• Electrical Engineer
  • Ahmed Jaffer

An opportunity that the current medical device industry [and most industries for that matter] has not yet tapped into is the growing population of the retired professionals.  As the baby-boomers are moving towards retirement, the number of professional retirees that have relevant and applicable background will grow considerably.  This voluntary removal from the work force also means the loss of the tremendous experience these individuals possess.  This experience, forged over many years of making mistakes and generating successes would be invaluable for the new medical device professional if there was some way to transfer that knowledge.

Brad Slaker’s father and mentor is a ‘restlessly’ retired engineer having had a career that spanned 50+ years. Watching his father reluctantly retire along with his father’s entire history of experiences and knowledge was a pivotal motivation for Brad to find a way to tap into this untapped, extremely valuable resource, America’s retired population.

DesignWise Medical brings together these two groups, retirees and future professionals [students], in a framework that will foster and allow for the transfer of the retained wisdom to the students.  The benefit to the students is clear but there is also a benefit to be had for the retirees, namely, an opportunity to stay engaged in industry while simultaneously giving back to the next generation of medical device professionals as well as the children positively impacted by the devices that these two groups help design and develop.