Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth have launched a 3D Scholars Program designed to train practicing physicians in the complex process of medical device development, preparing them for leadership roles in this critical field. This program will be administered by the newly formed 3D Initiative, which coordinates the annual Dartmouth Device Development (3D) Symposium.
The 3D Scholars Program is a one-year certificate program tailored for active clinicians in medical device-focused specialties. The curriculum features a series of retreats, beginning with a boot camp at Dartmouth College, followed by regulatory and reimbursement policies in Washington, D.C., start-up culture in the San Francisco Bay Area, and established medical device manufacturing practices in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The program will culminate back at Dartmouth College with the 3D Scholars’ presenting their capstone projects.
"The medical device ecosystem needs active clinicians to guide the development process at companies and regulatory agencies," says Aaron V. Kaplan, MD, FACC, FNAI. Kaplan is the founding director of the 3D Symposium, an experienced medical device developer, and director of research in the cardiovascular section at Dartmouth Health’s Heart and Vascular Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. “This program will provide scholars with a deep understanding of the medical device development process."
Eligible candidates must be trained in device-focused specialties such as interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, interventional radiology, general surgery, neurosurgery, vascular surgery, orthopedics, or ophthalmology. 3D Scholars will be selected from a diverse pool of practicing clinicians across the United States, representing a wide range of clinical settings and backgrounds.
The 3D Scholars Program is an outgrowth of the 3D Symposium, which has been bringing together leaders from across the medical device ecosystem—representing clinical, business, governmental, financial and legal sectors—at Dartmouth College for two decades. The 3D Symposium provides a forum to address challenges as a community focused on bringing new technology to improve patient health.
"The 3D Initiative builds on the success of the 3D Symposium, which has evolved into the leading think tank meeting for the medical device ecosystem," says Duane Compton, PhD, Dean of Geisel School of Medicine. "The 3D Scholars Program further establishes Dartmouth’s leadership role in the medical device community."
The 3D Scholars Program was launched with the help of critical philanthropic support and will work to leverage ongoing and future support to fund the program and create scholarship opportunities for participants.
“Given my experience both on the regulatory side and the clinical side, there were specific gaps that we identified as key targets where a 3D Scholar could provide added value, particularly in bridging the understanding between contemporary clinical practice and regulatory expectations," says Emily Zeitler, MD, MHS, FACC, FHRS, a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist at Dartmouth Health’s Heart and Vascular Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and assistant professor of Health Policy at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Kaplan and Zeitler will co-lead the 3D Initiative and Scholars Program.
For more information, visit https://www.3d-scholars.org/
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.
About the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, founded in 1797, strives to improve the lives of the communities we serve through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The nation's fourth-oldest medical school, the Geisel School of Medicine has been home to many firsts in medical education, research and practice, including the discovery of the mechanism for how light resets biological clocks, creating the first multispecialty intensive care unit, the first comprehensive examination of U.S. health care cost variations (The Dartmouth Atlas), and the first Center for Health Care Delivery Science, which launched in 2010. As one of America's top medical schools, Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of physician leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in health care.