Transforming Specialized Research into Medical Device Innovation
Photo credit: Victor, personal friend of subject
Zhengxuan Wei, PhD ’26, mechanical engineering, creates insightful medical innovations and protocols at Fresenius Medical Care through his placement from the LEADERs program.
For Zhengxuan Wei, a mechanical engineering PhD candidate, the ways academic theory translates to real-world application became clear during his LEADERs placement at Fresenius Medical Care. After spending nearly a decade immersed in academia, Wei learned how his specialized knowledge in soft materials could help solve industry challenges in medical device technology. Wei’s foray into the LEADERs program began when he started wondering how he could secure industry experience before entering the job market. Emails from the PhD Network advertising the LEADERs program drew his attention, and he rightly recognized the program as an opportunity to build connections, develop professional skills, and understand the intricacies of industry. What started as taking a single course, the introductory LEADERs class “Leading Self and Others,” evolved into pursuing the full certificate as Wei connected with the diverse cohort of PhD students and discovered internship opportunities that aligned perfectly with his research interests and expertise.
At Fresenius Medical Care, a leading provider of devices and healthcare services for Renal Replacement Therapy, Wei was tasked with conducting finite element analyses (FEA), which is a process of running computer simulations to optimize a product’s design prior to creating the (substantially more expensive) physical prototype. His modeling was focused on enhancing the performance of dialysis devices, but the work he did at his LEADERs placement extended far beyond these simulation runs. Wei documented everything he did in the lab, from his use of tried-and-true techniques to problem solving complex problems that arose when different components interacted with each other within the simulation system. Based on these meticulous notes, Wei developed comprehensive protocols that now serve as training materials for new interns, as well as current employees.
The placement at Fresenius Medical Care offered Wei something textbooks couldn’t – the experience of seeing his academic training solve real problems that industry professionals faced. Fresenius Medical Care needed to simulate materials not included in standard software libraries, and Wei was able to draw on his decade of research experience to custom design experiments to fill this gap. Wei’s PhD research focuses on the mechanics of soft materials, such as hydrogels and elastomers. He examines their behavior under various conditions like fracture and fatigue. This specialization made Fresenius Medical Care an ideal match, as what they needed fell precisely within his area of expertise. During his placement, Wei performed characterization tests on materials in order to extract critical properties that could then be integrated into the simulation software system. This achieved results that closely matched real-world performance, “That’s when I felt what I learned before was really useful. I knew how to do it, and others probably didn’t. That’s why they needed me.” Wei’s placement culminated in successfully resolving an issue for Fresenius Medical Care, earning him the appreciation of both his manager and coworkers, as well as giving Wei a profound sense of accomplishment.
The LEADERs program served as the conduit between Wei’s research and industry applications. The introductory LEADERs course, PHDL 7600 “Leading Self and Others,” offered a weekly respite from his normally siloed PhD activities. Having a large cohort of other PhD students to relate with helped form a sense of community that boosted resilience to burn out, “Everyone shares the same burdens and struggles, and in those moments, it’s not as stressful.” It also created a space for conversations with doctoral students from a diverse range of fields. These interactions taught Wei how to communicate complex information in accessible ways. Additionally, interactions with various mentors through the program exposed Wei to professionals further along in their career path, which broadened his long-term vision. By the time Wei was ready to do a LEADERs placement with Fresenius Medical Care, he was already approaching the end of his PhD. He had decided to pursue an industry career trajectory, and the placement validated his decision. The experience confirmed he was on the right path by giving him confidence that his specialized knowledge held tremendous value beyond academic publications.
Having delayed his participation in the LEADERs program until near graduation, Wei distinctly recognizes the program’s potential to shape a student’s entire doctoral journey when it is started early on, as this provides ample time for students to apply newly learned insights. He encourages others to “Do it early. Start as soon as you can rather than waiting until later in your PhD like I did.” Yet, despite the late start, Wei was still able to complete an industry placement that enriched his conceptualization of how theoretical knowledge translates to tangible problem-solving and practical innovation. For doctoral students wondering whether their research has practical applications, Wei’s experience shows how knowledge developed in academic labs can solve issues that industry professionals face daily.
Source: PhD Education