5 People Working to Change Medicine for the Better
The medical world as-we-know-it has been stuck between a rock and a hard place for more than a year now, but that’s not to say that innovation has ground to a halt. Read more about some of the most influential people working within the medical world, below.
- Angela Spang
Of all the tools found within the operating room, the surgical retractor is, arguably, one of the most vital. It has, of course, been ‘in development’ for many hundreds of years – even, some archaeologists claim, since the Stone Age – and that ongoing development has culminated in the self-retaining retractor from Queen’s Award winning Angela Spang and her team at June Medical, capable of putting the control into the operating surgeon’s (spare) hand.
Not only does this make the surgeon’s job easier, but it offers a safe, affordable and personnel-reducing alternative to previous designs.
- Dr Jennifer Doudna
Since 2021, Doudna has been pioneering a new technology, known as Crispr, capable of editing genomes. Its applications extend from treating and curing some of the world’s most perplexing and pressing conditions, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, to creating crops that are resistant to droughts.
Her work is changing the face of genome engineering, and the Crispr tool will no doubt stand at the forefront of all manner of development in this pivotal arena going forward.
- Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi
For more than a decade now, ENT Dr Chaturvedi has been working with healthcare professionals to help pioneer new medical devices capable of addressing areas of extreme concern within India’s healthcare system.
His journey from rural India to Stanford University and back again equipped him with the knowledge and perspective he needed to begin a rapid reform within India’s hospitals. His influence has helped to bring notable technologies such as the portable ENT endoscope and Mechanical CPAP device to light – and to spur on a shift in perspective that enables vulnerable citizens to access better medical care, with far greater ease than they may have otherwise experienced.
- Prakash Chand
For many years, we were advised against going online to ask internet strangers our medical questions – in spite of the fact that it has long since represented one of the most accessible resources for people around the world.
These days, however, the full potential of the platform is being pioneered by Chand and the team behind Ask The Doctor – including Nigerian-Canadian NFL player, Israel Idonije and Congolese-American NBA player Dikembe Mutombo – who first established the medical information site back in 2014.
Since then, vulnerable individuals from around the world have utilised the service – perhaps most notably, when more than 3,000 individuals from Nepal sought medical advice in the immediate aftermath of the 2015 earthquake.
- Dr Kevin Knopp
Dr Knopp has been working tirelessly alongside the team at 908 Devices to make mass spectrometry – a highly specialised technology used at the cutting edge of biological research – a viable option for labs across the globe that would otherwise have been unable to access it.
From creating cheaper parts, to simplifying the technology and designing it around labs that have only a small amount of space available, the work being carried out today by 908 Devices promises to prove pivotal for researchers around the world.
