Gerotech Incubator Program Application Information

Request for Applications to become a Human Aging Project Gerotech Incubator Program Scholar

Each year, the Human Aging Project will make research funding available to support research that is focused on the development of life-changing engineering innovations that will improve the health, well-being, and independence of millions of older adults. These scholarship opportunities are part of ongoing efforts of the Gerotech Incubator Program formed to foster research, innovation, and scholarship “incubators” composed of teams of trainees from the JHU Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Whiting School of Engineering, and Carey Business School.

Each year, at least seven applicants from each JHU entity will be selected based on their interest, prior scholarship, creativity, and ability to work in teams to join the Human Aging Project Gerotech Incubator Program Scholars. Each Clinical Resident or Nursing Doctorate Investigator Scholar will join an incubator with scholars from the schools of Engineering and Business. The projects will be completed under the mentorship of a faculty panel consisting of a clinician (RN or MD), engineer, and business faculty. Teams will be provided with research supplies and technical support, including but not limited to biostatistics consultation and/or research technician effort to complete project objectives.

The overarching goal of the Gerotech Incubator Program is to promote and sustain a strong culture of teamwork for trainees from the JHU entities and to lay the foundation for a lifelong collaboration focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of aging. As a member of the incubator, you will be expected to be an active participant in all phases of the project, from identifying the problem, to testing and fine-tuning the engineering solution (prototype/app/device, etc.).

Below are brief details for the role of each member of the incubator:

Clinical Resident/Nursing Doctorate Trainee:

Commit an average of 3 – 5 hours per week to working with the Engineering and Business Team Members on the project for one year.
Help the team understand the complexities of the health care system for older adults, including current challenges, current standards of care for each challenge, and the impact of potential innovative engineering solutions.
Work actively and collaboratively with the team as a divergent thinker, focused on the continuum, from concept to prototype. Be open to mentoring by experienced Engineering faculty, Department of Medicine or School of Nursing clinician faculty, and business members.
Help guide teams with access to relevant clinical entity, staff, and colleagues (including therapists, nurses, and scientists interested in aging research), and serve as a liaison between the team and clinical partners.
Engage with the team to fine-tune and test the technical solution, while ensuring design components continue to center on the older adult end-user.

Engineering Trainee: This opportunity to explore an exciting new area of research related to aging is open to both undergraduate and graduate students from all Whiting School of Engineering departments.

Commit an average of 5 – 10 hours per week to work with the Whiting School, Department of Medicine, School of Nursing, and Business members on a given project for one year.
Be open to mentoring by experienced Whiting School faculty, Department of Medicine or School of Nursing clinician faculty, and business members.
Participate in project planning activities from the inception to the testing of the prototypes.
Propose new engineering solutions to aging-related problem.

Business Graduate Trainee

Commit an average of 1 – 3 hours per week to work with the Whiting School, School of Medicine, and School of Nursing members of the project for one year.
Be open to mentoring by experienced Whiting School faculty, School of Medicine or School of Nursing clinician faculty, and business faculty.
Participate in project planning activities.
Assess the market for the new product, assess the opportunity to bring the product to market, and develop a plan to bring the product to market.

Each team will offer a poster presentation of their engineering innovative research project at the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine/Whiting School of Education research retreat day.

All applications must be submitted online. The deadline for applications is DATE.

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Please briefly and clearly address the following areas in your application (150 WORD MAX PER QUESTION)

1. Have you worked on an incubator-like project? Have you ever worked on anything related to engineering? What is the most creative thing you have done? Describe an innovation you worked on that you are particularly proud of. Tell us about a project where you built/assembled something with your hands. (required)

2. Are there any areas of health care related to aging and older adults that are of particular interest to you? If so, please comment. (required)

3. If a Clinician, Engineer, or Business person from the 22nd century was to visit the best hospital in the United States today, what would shock them the most? What is “broken” in older adult health care today? (required)

4. If all careers had the same pay and hours, what career would you like to have? Career-wise, what do you most look forward to doing/accomplishing/being a part of, in the next 5 – 10 years, and how does being part of the Gerotech Incubator Program contribute to that goal? (required)

5. Wonder encapsulates a feeling of rapt attention, drawing the observer in. Tell us about a time in recent years that you experienced wonder in your everyday life. Although experiences related to your clinical or research work or your studies or business may be the first to come to mind, we encourage you to think of an experience that is unrelated to medicine or science. What did you learn from that experience? What are some things you’ve had to unlearn? (required)

6. Have you worked on an incubator-like project? Have you ever worked on anything related to engineering? What is the most creative thing you have done? Describe an innovation you worked on that you are particularly proud of. Tell us about a project where you built/assembled something with your hands. (required)