Sanjan Das, Daniel Kottmann, Angela Lam and Max Stewart

Highly Commended, Innovative Practice

These students all received nominations pertaining to their work under the umbrella of the Cambridge MedTech Foundation, and the panel thus decided to present a joint award to them as a group.

On learning that he had been nominated for the award, Max asked for the commendation to be extended to include Daniel Kottmann - rightly suspecting it was Daniel who had submitted the nomination without mentioning his own contributions. The panel were delighted to do so.

The Cambridge MedTech Foundation is a newly formed society... and was set up mainly by Max Stewart and Angela Lam. They both initiated the "Innovation Programme", an educational programme that aims to introduce students to medical device development. Students are selected [for the programme] based on motivation, interdisciplinarity and impact on their career plan. Multidisciplinary student teams work on their projects to develop innovative concepts to solve real clinical problems using medical technology. The programme is complemented with workshops deliver by partners in the areas of medicine, engineering and business. Additionally, teams receive mentoring by clinical, engineering and business mentors. At the end, students pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

The feedback from the last two years was incredibly positive, with students highlighting the high quality of content and organisational efforts, the great opportunity to work together with students from other fields and think more innovatively.

Daniel was instrumental in developing the programme for 2020. His laser-like attention to detail ensured that events ran smoothly day-to-day and everything was done to a professional standard. He also has an eye for the big picture: he made numerous, original contributions to improve the programme in scale and scope. It's rare to find someone who's capable of flipping between the micro and macro like Dan is, which is what makes him such a fantastic innovator and inspiration to work with.

Sanjan Das pioneered a programme called MEDx at the University of Cambridge, supported by the Cambridge MedTech Foundation. This programme educated students on medical technology, an underrepresented field in the University, via a series of free talks that involved speakers from different backgrounds, from entrepreneurs to clinician-researchers, giving students a wide perspective on what the medical technology field involves. To engage students while facilitating their learning, he incorporated student-led presentations where students are encouraged to step forward to share their innovative ideas, promoting collaboration.

Sanjan Das is a third-year Undergraduate reading Engineering at Queens' College. Daniel Kottmann is a PhD student in the Department of Medicine at Darwin College. Angela Lam and Max Stewart are both sixth-year Undergraduates reading Clinical Medicine, at Murray Edwards College and Sidney Sussex College respectively. (2019-20)