Research partnerships between medicine and engineering will impact the future of healthcare by creating new technologies for diagnosing and caring for patients, says Bruce Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health.

As the leader of a national research team focused on developing technologies for biomedical imaging and therapy to improve health, Tromberg spoke Nov. 1 at the College of Medicine’s fourth annual John C. and Martha Hitt Grand Rounds.

“Grand Rounds are a tradition in medical schools, a time when we come together, to teach and to learn from one another, with the goal of increasing excellence in patient care,” says Deborah German, vice president for health affairs and medical school dean. “Dr. Tromberg’s message is that we can do far more together than we can ever do separately.”

The NIH includes 27 institutes and centers focused on specific health conditions. And the NIBIB works with each institute to create new technologies to better treat and diagnose those diseases, Tromberg says.

He cited the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. As the U.S. and world struggled with a new, deadly virus with no vaccine yet, healthcare leaders knew they needed a large-scale testing mechanism. But would patients accept in-home testing? Would they be able to accurately conduct such a test? Timing was critical, so the agency held a national “Shark Tank” for at-home testing proposals. They received about 1,000 concepts, then worked with scientists, healthcare providers, vendors and government regulators to bring the test kits to market. That medicine-engineering partnership led to the manufacture of 78 billion at-home kits that allow patients and their families to know within minutes if they have COVID-19.

“The pandemic brought a new wave of engineering and medical partnerships,” he says, adding, “This was a paradigm shift. People now expect to be able to do testing at home.”

He highlighted new research into at-home devices that could improve health, including:

  • Voice analysis that could diagnose a variety of conditions, including neurological disease, pediatric speech disorders, respiratory conditions and even mood disorders.
  • Hepatitis C tests, which could allow patients to test and begin treatment in an hour. He says such tests are needed because about 4 million people carry the virus but don’t know they have it.
  • Viral load studies for patients with HIV and AIDS to see how their treatments are working.
  • At-home fetal and healthy mother monitoring.

The biggest challenge in such partnerships, he says, is that physicians and engineers speak different languages. Working in teams allows both sides to learn from each other and encourages innovation.

Tromberg gave his presentation moments after attending an announcement by the College of Medicine and CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, of a new lab in Lake Nona that will bring together physicians, biomedical and physical scientists to create light-based therapies that improve health. The lab will be located in the Burnett Biomedical Sciences Building and its Medical City location will allow interdisciplinary research opportunities for medical students, residents and fellows, and clinicians from UCF Lake Nona Hospital, the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, Orlando VA Medical Center and Nemours Children’s Health.

“Human health is now a top priority of engineering programs,” he says. “We are all recognizing the power of new technology. The time has never been better for these partnerships.”

Tromberg has co-authored more than 450 publications and holds 25 patents in new technology development as well as bench-to-bedside clinical translation, validation and commercialization of devices. Before joining the NIH in 2019, Tromberg was professor of biomedical engineering and surgery at the University of California, Irvine. There, he served as director of the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic and the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program, an NIH National Biomedical Technology Center. He is a fellow of the International Society of Optical Engineering, Optica, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine.

The John C. and Martha Hitt Grand Rounds event is made possible by the generosity of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, which supports the event to honor UCF’s former president and first lady. President Hitt was a driving force behind the creation of UCF’s medical school in 2006.