Northeastern Faculty Travel to West Africa for Medical Innovation Expo
Lee Makowski, professor of bioengineering, jointly appointed in chemistry and chemical biology, traveled to Accra, Ghana, in October for the Medical Innovation Expo at Academic City University. The three-day exposition featured workshops, plenary talks, panels, and poster presentations that showcased innovative designs and approaches to medical treatment under limited resources.
With a tagline of “New Paradigms in Healthcare Technology,” the expo brought together over 200 engineers, entrepreneurs, students, and healthcare professionals committed to fostering the growing medical device industry in Ghana. This event was a further extension of the evolving collaboration established between Northeastern University and Academic City University.
Northeastern faculty members Marc Fuller, an adjunct teaching professor of bioengineering, and Laura Huang, a distinguished professor of business, attended the expo alongside Makowski. Representatives from the Ghana Standards Authority and the Minister of State for Special Initiatives also attended.
The organizers emphasized the importance of local designers and manufacturers to address the unique needs of the country while avoiding the costly expenses associated with frivolous imported technology.
Earlier this year, Northeastern announced a historic collaboration with Academic City University to build a Ghana Bioinnovation Center. The new innovation center will develop and educate engineers to empower Ghanaian talent to solve biomedical engineering needs locally instead of importing devices from abroad.
The Medical Innovation Expo was the first of its kind, nurturing broader interest and cultivating excitement for the burgeoning Bioinnovation Center.
In a recent interview with JOY News, Makowski explained that “we believe that there should be a medical device and instrumentation industry in Ghana that can serve Ghana and [more of] West Africa. Because then [Ghana] will have talent here to do training, maintenance, repair, and to work back and forth with physicians. We want to see [medical devices] built here.”
The collaboration with Academic City University furthers Northeastern University’s commitment to global innovation, encouraging practical healthcare solutions in West Africa. “I think Ghana is sitting in a place where they can move forward very quickly,” Makowski concluded.
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Courtesy photos from the Ghana Bioinnovation Initiative