We developed our new Master’s program in translational medicine (first class enrolled in Fall 2015) with the primary goal of training students from diverse educational backgrounds in the core competencies required to successfully carry a medical technology from the lab bench through to the patient bedside. The curriculum is organized such that content from courses focused on the technical, clinical, business, and regulatory issues involved in the commercialization of biomedical technologies is synthesized into a group BioDesign project that spans the length of the program. The curriculum and BioDesign project are implemented in such a way that traditional didactic coursework is combined with opportunities for students to work directly with clinical and industry partners. We foresee that, over time, these clinical and industrial immersion opportunities will result in substantial job placement opportunities for our graduates.
The program is offered in a one-year Fall-Spring-Summer sequence. Each semester is anchored by a year-long design course in which students are introduced to key components of the biomedical technology development process from identification and screening of unmet clinical needs to fabrication of a working prototype and initial clinical evaluation. This design content is accompanied by courses in areas critical to bringing a medical technology to market: intellectual property, regulation, quality assurance, biomedical ethics, cost analysis, business leadership, and translational research design. This comprehensive curriculum allows the student to understand the device design process from technical, clinical, and business perspectives. At the conclusion of each semester, BioDesign project teams present progress updates to program faculty in a setting modeled after the Stage Gate process commonly used in industry.
We will ultimately evaluate the success of our program by the placement of our graduates into positions within their chosen academic, clinical, or industrial career settings. We envision the clinical and industrial immersion opportunities that we offer students throughout the program will be critical to successful job placement upon graduation. We offer these immersion opportunities in two primary ways. First, BioDesign projects to date have been sponsored by one of our clinical partner institutions and provided students with the means to engage these partners. In addition, we facilitate semester-long independent studies for students with local clinical and industry partners. These substantive (approximately 9 hours per week) opportunities provide students with practical experience that amplifies the training they receive throughout the program’s core curriculum and their BioDesign projects.
Jeffrey S. Garanich, Ph.D. is Director of the Master’s in Translational Medicine (MTM) Program at the City College of New York (CCNY). In this role, his primary responsibilities include leading recruiting efforts to expand the Program’s student base, engaging medical technology industry partners, and managing administration of a curriculum that trains students from diverse educational backgrounds in the core competencies required to successfully carry a medical technology from the lab bench through to the patient bedside. Prior to joining CCNY, Garanich served as Director Business Development with Actuated Medical, Inc. where he led investor and strategic partner engagements to accelerate device time to market and enhance sales of commercialized products. Garanich also previously worked as a Director at The Sapphire Group LLC, a holding company in New York City with assets in healthcare, new media, energy, education and unique innovations to support counterterrorism. Here, he led growth initiatives for multiple Sapphire portfolio companies, some of which began with company formation (founder level). Previous to Sapphire, Garanich spent six years with Boston Scientific Corporation. During this time, he progressed from a doctoral entry-level position to manage the day-to-day activities of five direct reports along with the operation of a corporate cell biology research laboratory staffed with ten scientists. He also worked with senior management to propose and develop a cross-Divisional collaboration network to improve communication and eliminate redundancies within the Company’s billion-dollar research and development (R&D) organization and drive the completion of cross-disciplinary medical device R&D projects critical to products’ commercialization. Prior to Boston Scientific, Garanich served as both Associate and Analyst with The Sapphire Group. In these roles, he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions and company-formation projects in the healthcare and media sectors and new client development in the medical device sector. Garanich holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Pennsylvania State University.
Lola Brown is a scientist, educator, and entrepreneur. She is an expert in the academic success of students in math and science, from kindergarten to post graduate, with a specialization in equipping PhD students with the tools to successfully complete their doctoral studies and obtain gainful employment in their area of interest.
Dr. Brown is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and the Assistant Dean of Academic Initiatives at The Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY). One of her major projects was the development and roll out of City College’s master’s program in translational medicine. In addition to her leadership role at CCNY, Dr. Brown has found time to reach out to the non-technical communities and share her passion for science and engineering education. She had an academic enrichment business for middle and high school students specializing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and was a teacher at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. She has provided research mentorship and training to scores of undergraduate and graduate students throughout her career.
Lola obtained her bachelor of science from Brown University in biology where she conducted research studying tissue engineered heart valves. She took her master of science from the joint department of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University studying the stroke pathology in children with sickle cell anemia. She went on to complete her PhD in biochemistry as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow solving the structure of proteins involved in HIV. Immediately following the completion of her PhD, Dr. Brown began postdoctoral research in biomedical engineering at Yale University.
Her highly interdisciplinary training and skill set, which combines biomedical engineering, structural biology, and molecular biology, which makes her well suited to analyze projects from multiple perspectives. Lola has a deep commitment to teaching and mentoring and was awarded the 2009 "30 Under 30" Award for her science outreach efforts. Lola is committed to contributing to STEM education in a manner that values high achievement and meaningful community impact.
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