Engineering World Health (EWH) was a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

that worked with

hospitals A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

and

clinics A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care need ...

that serve resource-poor communities of the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

. EWH has now merged with

Engineers Without Borders - USA Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consideri ...

. EWH's focus was on the repair and maintenance of

medical equipment A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

and on building local capacity to manage and maintain the equipment without international aid. Engineering professors

Robert Malkin Robert A. Malkin is an engineer specializing in medical instrumentation for the developing world. At Duke, Malkin is an Emeritus professor of the practice of Biomedical Engineering, professor of the practice of global health, and an affiliate of th ...

and Mohammad Kiani established EWH in Memphis in 2001. In 2004, Dr. Malkin and EWH relocated to

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, which has been an active partner since that time. As a result of this partnership, EWH is headquartered in

Durham, NC Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 census, Durham is the four ...

. In 2008, EWH received a multi-year grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.

Activities

Summer & January Institutes

Engineering World Health's signature program is the Summer & January Institutes. These service abroad programs engage university-level science and engineering students to use their skills and knowledge to make a direct impact on hospitals in developing countries. Participants spend three to nine weeks in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, or

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

learning hands-on technical skills and the local language, and then working in local hospitals to install, repair, and maintain medical equipment. Participants also train local staff, empowering them to use and maintain equipment, to create lasting improvements in partner hospitals. Since 2004, over 1,200 participants have repaired almost 13,200 pieces of hospital equipment, worth an estimated US$26 million.

BMET Training Program

Seeking a sustainable solution to hospital equipment repair, Engineering World Health started a biomedical equipment technician (BMET) training program in late 2009, in partnership with th
GE Foundation
Through a three to four year curriculum tailored to each country's needs, EWH works with a local educational institution and Ministry of Health to train BMETs to international standards, train local teachers to carry on the program in the long term, and establish a permanent, accredited BMET training program. The first BMET Training program began in Rwanda, and has since placed trained BMETs in every district in the country. Thanks to further funding from the GE Foundation, EWH has completed a training program

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

and turned it over to local leadership, and, as of 2016, is training BMETs in Cambodia,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

BMET Library

In 2016, EWH launched an open-source

digital library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

for BMETs, with the goal of facilitating and fostering information exchange among engineers and technicians around the world. This library is a collection of open source books and publications containing information useful for training (BMETs), particularly in the developing countries where EWH is working.

Other programs

In the summer of 2021, EWH offered a free virtual design program for students in the United States, Lebanon and Jordan. The program, titled Virtual Engineering Innovation and Cultural Exchange, was focused on healthcare design in low-resource settings. It was sponsored by the Stevens Initiative, a project funded by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

, Bezos Family Foundation, and the Governments of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, and administered by the

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...

Organization

Board of directors

As of 2021, the EWH's board of directors is made up of the following: * Michael R. Tracy, PhD -

Ethicon Ethicon, Inc., is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The company is part of the Johnson & Johnson MedTech business segment. It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johns ...

(Chair) * Jessica Feddersen, CPA -

Danaher Corporation Danaher Corporation is an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and ...

(Treasurer) * Mhoire Murphy, MBA -

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

(Secretary) * Sreeram Dhurjaty, PhD - Dhurjaty Electronics Consulting * William E. Gannon, Jr., MD, MBA - Capital City Technical Consulting * Mark Goldman, MBA -

Philips Healthcare Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

* Barbara Grenell, PhD - Preferred Health Strategies, Ltd. * Mohammad Kiani, PhD, FAHA -

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

* Corinna E. Lathan, PhD, PE - AnthroTronix, Inc. * Eric Nodiff, JD - Schaeffer Venaglia Handler & Fitzsimons, LLP * Cathy Peck, CPA - Professor,

Fresno Pacific University Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. ...

* Tojan B. Rahhal, PhD - Engineering World Health (Ex oficio) *

, PhD, PE -

(Emeritus) * Lynn Toby Fisher, JD (In memoriam)

Chapters

Engineering World Health has student chapters at 45 universities around the world. These Chapters engage students in activities as design projects for the developing world, biomedical equipment repair and evaluation, and raising awareness of

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

challenges. Chapters may also get involved in the EWH Design Competition in which teams of engineering students submit a design directed at the needs of developing country healthcare. The top three teams are selected by an independent panel of judges and are then rewarded with cash prizes, giving them a chance to implement their device.

US chapters

Partners

EWH's program and funding partners as of August 2022 include: *

Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) is an organization for advancing the development, and safe and effective use of medical technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "applic ...

Australian Aid Australian Aid is the brand name used to identify projects in developing countries supported by the Australian Government. As of 2014 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been responsible for Australia's official development ...

Biomedical Engineering Society BMES (the Biomedical Engineering Society) is the professional society for students, faculty, researchers and industry working in the broad area of biomedical engineering. BMES is the leading biomedical engineering society in the United States and w ...

Cantel Medical Corporation Cantel Medical Corporation is an American company that produces and sells medical equipment. The company is based in Little Falls, New Jersey. The company has three subsidiaries: MEDIVATORS, Crosstex, and Mar Cor Purification. History Cantel ...

Duke University Health System The Duke University Health System is a private, not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It combines the Duke University School of Medicine, Duke–NUS Medical School, Duke Univers ...

Flemming Topsøe Flemming Topsøe (born 25 August 1938) is a Danish mathematician, and is emeritus in the mathematics department of the University of Copenhagen. He is the author of several mathematical science works, among them works about analysis, probabilit ...

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

MedShare MedShare is a national non-profit organization that recovers surplus medical supplies and equipment from U.S. hospitals and manufacturers and redistributes them to needy hospitals in developing countries. They process these donated materials and ...

National Instruments The National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an America, American multinational corporation, multinational company with international operations. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated tes ...

Notre Dame University–Louaize Notre Dame University–Louaize (NDU; ) is a private university, private Catholic university in Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon, founded as Louaize College for Higher Education in 1978 in cooperation with Beirut University College. The name was changed to ...

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) is a private university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1874 and houses twelve academic departments with over thirty undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, en ...

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

Vontier Vontier Corporation is an industrial manufacturing company headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. It owns the brands Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Matco Tools and Teletrac Navman, including subsidiaries Hennessy Industries, Gasboy, and Global Traffic ...

* Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Former partners include

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, in the United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate k ...

, BD,

Biogen Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. Biogen ope ...

Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is a tertiary hospital established in 1962 and is located in Idi-Araba, Surulere, Lagos State, an administrative division of Nigeria.The teaching hospital is affiliated with the University of Lagos Col ...

McKesson Corporation McKesson Corporation is a publicly traded American company that distributes Medication, pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, Medical device, medical supplies, and Health administration, health management tools. The company ...

, the Nigerian Ministry of Health and

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research hospital headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on chi ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Engineering World Health official site
Medical and health organizations based in Tennessee Appropriate technology organizations Engineering organizations International medical and health organizations