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NextGenET

Carl Snyderman, a professor in the School of Medicine, co-invented with Garrett Coyan, the chief cardiothoracic surgery resident at UPMC. The product is a simplified, low-cost endotracheal tube system that prevents ventilator-associated infections and pneumonia by stopping harmful bacteria from entering the lungs. The risk of getting aspiration pneumonia increases the longer a patient is reliant on a tube.

"This is a dire health problem," said Coyan, who is also a postdoctoral fellow in cardiovascular engineering at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "Even before COVID, we saw about 250,000 deaths in the U.S. every year from ventilator-associated pneumonias. A lot of that occurs because we haven't changed the design of those endotracheal tubes in the last 50 years." Snyderman and Coyan initially met three years ago while working at the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) on a different ventilator problem — a meeting they both described as fortuitous given their complementary areas of expertise.

“I'm a head neck surgeon; he's a thoracic surgeon, so we come at the airway from different perspectives,” said Snyderman, the otolaryngology director of the Center for Cranial Base Surgery at UPMC. At the CMI they’d both independently sought to eliminate endotracheal tube migration due to the harm they observed it causing patients. But in talking to customers and stakeholders, they identified this much larger issue and pivoted their focus.

"We changed our solution from one design to a very different radical design," said Snyderman. "It shows the innovation process and that you start in one place, but never know where you're going to end up. Winning means we can finish our testing and settle on a design that solves the problem we're addressing."

Diverse impacts

Each team hopes their project will eventually serve communities beyond those in Western Pennsylvania.

“51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh has one of the poorest Black communities in the U.S., and its issues are emblematic of migrant Black populations that moved to major northern ��cities throughout the country,” said Huguley. “If we can do good racial equity work here, it’s highly likely it will translate ��to a national audience.”

Dental care is number one on the list of unmet child health needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one that Liu and Burgette recognize disproportionately affects children of color in disadvantaged communities. Liu noted that health education materials usually involve literacy barriers, and aren't fun, engaging or community-sensitive — issues not exclusive to 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh.

“Not doing something about it is has perpetuated long-term health disparities,” said Burgette.

According to Coyan, the PInCh competition aids in honing skills that physicians, scientists and researchers aren't taught and affirms 51��Ʒ��Ƶ's commitment to diversity - a sentiment shared by others.

"51��Ʒ��Ƶ's CTSI offers support and preparation to help teams think through the problem they're addressing and the solution they're proposing," said Liu. "Such support is especially valuable for many diverse teams that might otherwise not have a seat at the table."

All winners

A total of $550,000 was awarded to eight teams during PInCh 2021, representing the largest award amount in the past nine program cycles.

The following were each awarded $50,000:

�ٴdzܳ�����-������(Margaret Rosenzweig), a doula model to provide dignity, legacy, advocacy and support for individuals with advanced cancer in the 51��Ʒ��Ƶsburgh Black community.

The O2 Cube��(Kilichan Gurleyik), a solar powered supplemental oxygen system for rural health centers that lack grid electricity.

�ո�������շ���for Bereavement in Communities of Color (Laura Deitz), a training program for paraprofessionals in communities of color to provide interpersonal psychotherapy to reduce bereavement-related depression.

See all this year’s winners on the .

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— Kara Henderson