Launch, Learn, Pivot, and Scale: Evolution of the Medical Innovators Development Program

Medicine requires physician-leaders trained in interdisciplinary problem-solving and in responding to complex adaptive systems. The rapid pace of technological change poses an unmet need for physicians who have aptitude in engineering, informatics, systems design, entrepreneurship, and other creative problem-solving tools to improve the health of society. The Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP) is a MD candidate training program that was designed to meet this growing need. MIDP blends various frameworks including Design Thinking, Biodesign, Lean Six Sigma, the Business Model Canvas, and others into a 4-year curriculum that is integrated into the core MD curriculum. The capstone experience is a 3-month immersive team-based course in stakeholder discovery, design prototyping, and pitching solutions to address clinical needs identified during clerkships. The MIDP offers a roadmap for MD students to gain skills in and apply innovation and design fundamentals to self-discovered clinical needs. MIDP students have seen success in various ways: presentations to the Board of Trust, participation in the prestigious I-Corps program, multiple entrepreneurial pitch competition wins, institutional pilots, and to date, four technology transfer intellectual property disclosures. MIDP's next steps focus on scaling impact. Specific aims include building internal infrastructure for further development of promising "orphan" ideas after students graduate, facilitating interprofessional opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student collaboration, maintaining an active alumni network, and inspiring other similar integrated MD programs.