Intersectional Thinking | MedStar Institute for Innovation | MI2

Another Cool Example of Biomimicry in Healthcare Innovation

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Biomimicry comes from bio- and mimesis, literally “to imitate life”. Biomimicry is a structured look at how the natural world has solved problems or created opportunities and attempting to apply those strategies to design, engineering, invention, health and wellness, and more.

Often thought of as a “new” discipline, technically, it is actually quite ancient. Much of how we learn comes from mimicking. And indeed, many developments throughout medical history have come from mimicking nature – the natural world within ourselves and outside of our own species.

Biomimicry and Innovation – The Anticrobial Secrets of Shark Skin

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Sometimes, in order to find the best solutions, we need to look no further than nature itself. Researchers from a variety of disciplines have tapped into this idea and are busy at work studying sharks.

Mimicking sharks seems only natural when you consider the marvel of their design. With a hydrodynamic shape, water moves smoothly over the

Innovation in Learning – Changing Education Paradigms

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When something has been around for decades and remains virtually unchanged, one of two things holds true…

(a) It is so well-designed, it is not in need of change, or

(b) It is in need of change and is therefore, ripe for innovation.

Patient Safety and the BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster?

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To Better Is Human™… That is the mantra with which Dr. Fairbanks leads MedStar Health’s human factors engineering efforts. Some may find despair in disaster. But a strong urge within all of us seeks the opportunity in it. Watch this intriguing video on what we can learn from the BP oil disaster.

In this 30 minute video series from MI2′s Innovations In… Patient Safety Forum, Dr. Terry Fairbanks explores the similarities in the culture of BP prior to the oil disaster of 2010 and the “House of Medicine”.

The Oil Industry Preventing PE? – The Story of the Greenfield Filter

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Faced with a common postoperative problem, preventing thromboemboli (blood clots) without using blood thinners, Dr. Lazar Greenfield had to look outside of healthcare for a solution. He considered filters, but the only filters used up until that time tended to create more problems than they solved. Flat screen filters would only add to venous obstruction and provide a nidus for more thrombus – creating a situation every bit as serious as the one it was intended to prevent.

So, where could Dr. Greenfield look to find a workable design for his intravenous filter?

Mining the Periphery – Gold Rush’s 1st Millionaire Found No Gold

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Sometimes the path is obvious… it’s an easy choice. After all, everyone’s heading that way. Well, sometimes, what you seek lies not in the obvious choice. Sometimes, it’s in the periphery. Let’s take a trip back to the mid 1800′s to meet California’s first millionaire.

During the Gold Rush of 1849, Sam Brannan earned his fortune, but not by panning for it in the American River…

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