Innovation Medicine Program (IMED)

Anna grew up in Cleveland, Ohio (Go Cavs!) and graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a BSE in Bioengineering in 2013. She believes the IMED program is the perfect opportunity for her to combine and enhance her interests in medicine and innovation. Her research experiences include clinical outcomes research and surgical device development in Cardiothoracic surgery at Cleveland Clinic, electrophysiology studies at MetroHealth, and medical device design and development for add-ons to the daVinci Surgical Robot and electrocautery systems at Penn.

Raahil is a first year medical student at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. He’s originally from Los Angeles, CA and graduated from Yale University in 2013 with a degree in Mathematics & Philosophy. Some of his research experiences include studying the use of induced pluripotent stem cells to treat various neurological diseases and evaluating the effectiveness of angioplasty versus stent placement for cephalic arch stenosis in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Emil grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and went to Northwestern University for undergraduate studies where he studied Biomedical Engineering and Design. Before medical school he did a Fulbright research project in Krakow, Poland. In his down time, Emil enjoys the outdoors, doing sports and playing the violin.

Born, raised and educated in the Windy City, Eric attended Loyola University Chicago where he worked under Dr. Ciszek synthesizing and patterning surfaces with metal organic frameworks (MOFs). After a brief stint at the Naval Research Lab where he performed work synthesizing nanoparticles and fabricating an all inorganic photovoltaic cell he matriculated to the University of Illinois COM. Here he intends to utilize his experience with molecular synthesis and interfaces as part of a team that develops medical devices. Aside from the rigors of medical school, Eric enjoys reading presidential biographies and medical history.

After graduating from Northwestern University in 2013, Savan completed a one-year math tutoring fellowship in the Chicago Public School System in conjunction with the University of Chicago’s Urban Crime Lab. The following year he joined a local health care start-up, gaining experience with content marketing, venture capital, and product development. He looks forward to developing his interest in health technology and entrepreneurship through UIC’s IMED program.

Michael was born and raised in Naperville, Illinois and went to Neuqua Valley High School. He studied biology at Northwestern University and graduated in 2013. As a medical student, he was drawn to the IMED program because he not only wanted to be involved in clinical problem solving but also to tackle medical issues on a larger scale. He hopes that his background in biology can bring a unique perspective to the IMED team as they explore medical issues. Outside of academics, he enjoys watching Chicago sports and is a huge Blackhawks fan. He likes reading nerdy books every now and again, and is sad to admit that he has watched Scrubs start to finish three times.

Nina is a first year medical student from Chicago. She has an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, where she participated in several team-based design projects that addressed physician and patient needs. Before starting medical school, she worked in clinical research for an orthopedic surgeon with a focus on the use of stem cells for cartilage repair and regeneration in the knee. Nina looks forward to incorporating the practice of interdisciplinary problem solving and design into her medical school training through the IMED program.

Cody graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in Bioengineering and Biochemistry. His past research involved stem cell-based cardiac regeneration, helping to develop a new cellular therapy to rebuild the heart after infarction. Cody’s aim is to use his future experience as a physician to help translate these potential therapies into the clinic.

Charlotte grew up in Davis, California, and moved to Chicago in 2010 to study Biomedical Engineering and Design at Northwestern University. She conducted research in toxicology at UC Berkeley, in Synthetic Biology at Northwestern, and spent 2014-2015 conducting research in microfluidics at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne in Switzerland, on a Whitaker International Fellowship. In her free time, Charlotte enjoys reading, running, cooking, and traveling.

Gardner received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 2012. After a brief stint on the US Men’s heavyweight rowing team, Gardner began his graduate studies in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he focused on developing improved diagnostics for implantable heart pumps used in patients with advanced heart failure. He aspires to continue medical research, particularly focused on medical devices, as a future physician.