MIT
Center for Biomedical Innovation Joins
the Engineering Systems Division
February
27, 2009
MIT
Engineering Systems Division (ESD)
announces that the Center
for Biomedical Innovation now
joins ESD as one of its numerous research
initiatives, allowing ESD and CBI
to more closely align their efforts
in tackling large-scale challenges
in the healthcare industry.
"Re-engineering
key elements of our healthcare system
has become a national imperative,”
said Claude Canizares, chair of CBI’s
Strategy & Policy Council. “Working
within ESD will give CBI the opportunity
to leverage the combination of ESD's
world-class expertise in engineering
systems with CBI's deep knowledge
of, and experience in, the healthcare
industry.”
Launched
in 2005 in collaboration with MIT’s
schools of engineering, science, and
management, as well as the Harvard-MIT
Division of Health Sciences and Technology,
CBI works closely with representatives
from industry and government to identify
major healthcare challenges that MIT
can address through research. CBI’s
research areas include safety assessment;
manufacturing and distribution systems;
economic, financial, and regulatory
risk management; and research and
development redesign.
ESD’s
research integrates aspects of engineering,
management, and social sciences. ESD
research domains focus on critical
infrastructures, extended enterprises,
healthcare, and energy and sustainability.
The division encompasses a number
of large scale research initiatives,
including the MIT Portugal Program,
the Lean Advancement Initiative, the
MIT Center for Transportation and
Logistics, and the Systems Advancement
Research Initiative. In addition it
houses several educational programs
at the graduate level.
“Like
CBI, ESD incorporates interdisciplinary
perspectives to address complex, real-world
challenges,” said ESD Director
Yossi Sheffi. “This partnership
will help build ESD’s capabilities
in the domain of healthcare.”
Several
ESD faculty members are currently
involved in CBI’s research programs.
CBI’s Drug Safety Research Program
focuses on improving safety surveillance
for drugs recently approved by the
FDA for launch into the market. Specific
priorities in this program are to
develop a holistic benefit-risk management
framework, as well as to develop improved
methods for data extraction, signal
detection and validation, and benefit-risk
assessment and communication.
CBI’s
Biomanufacturing Program (BioMAN)
aims to develop innovative technologies
that significantly reduce the cost
of manufacturing processes and improve
the ability to deliver safe, high-quality
biopharmaceutical products. The program’s
focus is on developing new technologies
for bioprocessing, understanding the
economic implications of new innovations,
and developing tools that assess the
strategic, business, and safety implications
of globalization of this industry.
“This
formalized partnership will build
on already existing faculty interactions,”
said CBI Faculty Director
Anthony Sinskey, “creating more
opportunities for collaborations in
the pursuit of optimizing biomedical
innovation.”
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