Priya Arunachalam knew she had a healing mission, but she also had a problem-solving mind. Austin-born, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and an MBA in health care administration and entrepreneurship from Johns Hopkins University before her path works as what she calls “physician plus.” Knowing this, I applied to medical school.
Fortunately, a new program combining the strengths of Houston Methodist University and Texas A&M University was recruiting its first batch of students. The Faculty of Engineering’s School of Medicine allows students to simultaneously earn a Doctor of Medicine degree and a Master of Engineering degree in four years. It fit perfectly.
On May 19, she will be one of the first 22 students to receive these degrees. Five of them remained at Houston Methodist University, Arunachalam being one of them.
“I’m doing a general surgery residency at Houston Methodist University. I’m leaning toward transplants,” Arunachalam told Innovation Map.
As it is informally known, becoming a member of the EnMed program is not easy. Classes are limited to just 50 students per year, according to Dr. Timothy Boone, director of education at Houston Methodist Academic Institute. He says that in the four years since EnMed was launched, the size and diversity of applicants continues to grow, but they are looking for a very specific type of student.
For example, a student must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering. According to Boone, that’s what attracts problem solvers who want to go into medicine.
“If you just think of it as a job, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons,” he says.
Throughout the four years of education, students will test their problem-solving skills. While studying medicine, students recognize problems at the patient level and come up with engineering solutions.
One of the things Arunachalam created during his time at EnMed was a redesigned hospital gown that allowed for examinations despite less exposed back. She is currently piloting them at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Boone also noted an ophthalmology student who received a preliminary patent on a chair design that accommodates more body types than most doctors use today. Another group of students created the Go Baby Go, a toy car specifically designed for children with severe motor disabilities.
EnMed is not Houston Methodist’s only innovative collaboration. The University of St. Thomas’ Cameron Business School has partnered with Houston Methodist to offer a Master’s program in Clinical Translation Management, a program that teaches students how to turn their ideas into business growth.
Given Arunachalam’s business background, it could have been expected that she would follow such a path. But she prefers to create solutions and “find the right team to drive that idea,” she said.
Instead, she says her future lies in surgery, which is engineering in itself.
“I think these are very similar,” she says. “In engineering, you take a problem apart and rebuild it a little better. In surgery, the system is malfunctioning and you have to find new ways to fix it.”
And her and her classmates’ new discoveries will soon help countless patients.
The EnMed program graduates its first class this week. Photo courtesy of HoustonMethodist.org