Editorial: Postgraduate boost
25 April 2008
My favourite example of medical practice benefiting from the world of engineering is the development of obstetric ultrasound in the early 1950s. Ian Donald, an obstetrician working in Glasgow, had developed an interested in naval research on sonar detection during the War. He thought this could be applied to human situations. The result was a remarkable collaboration between clinicians and the engineers that supplied Glasgow shipyards with equipment to scan metal welds and detect defects. An ultrasound machine used in shipyards was translated into an extremely useful clinical diagnostic tool.
However, we cannot rely on the chance collision of disciplines; research funders are uniquely placed to initiate and facilitate interdisciplinary working and help to leap the barriers that can be associated with working across traditional academic disciplinary boundaries.
Our new medical engineering initiative, launched in partnership with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), aims to do just this. The £45 million scheme seeks to stimulate the formation of a number of world-class centres of excellence in medical engineering within the UK. This scheme will provide major funding for interdisciplinary collaborations to develop new technologies that will advance healthcare in the future. We hope that these centres will meld research in the physical sciences, engineering and mathematics with medical science in order to address unmet research and clinical needs. They should also enable institutions, through a blend of exploratory research, goal-oriented product development and training, to enhance a culture of innovation. This should lead to improved integration of expertise in the public and private sectors, allowing innovations arising in academia to be turned into products by the healthcare industry.
Mark Walport
Director of the Wellcome Trust