BioDesign Success Stories
Here are success stories on how bioengineers have scaled great heights
This module has been repeatedly voted as the most valuable undergraduate module by the alumni of BioDesign.
No matter what career path the alumni has taken the lessons taught in this module have proven to be invaluable and applicable. Here is why?
How many medical device companies are there in Singapore?
There are not that many medical device companies in Singapore. Venture Corp has a large medtech division employing 200 medtech engineers. Medtronic also has its global Centre of Excellence (CoE) for business model innovation in Singapore to design, test and scale new business models for the rapidly growing developing markets across Asia. Other than these two large companies there are not that many medical device companies in Singapore.
There is a good chance that your eventual career may not involve the design of medical device. But why are so many alumni of this course still find BioDesign to be invaluable. From what alumni has learned about patent due diligence in BioDesign many have gone on to take the graduate course on IP management at NUS and ended up as Patent Engineers or as registered patent agent.
How will BioDesign help you in your career?
In the future, for those of you who are in executive position or in charge of project management you will find what you learn in BioDesign will be 100% applicable as shown in my reconfigured outline below with one to one correspondence.
Executive Project Planning Protocol
- Project require as stated by management <=====
- Project concept selection by brainstorming <=====
- Project background research <======================
- Identify the unmet needs that would make the project a compelling proposition
- Initial project Search to Survey State of similar project and how to incorperate into project implementation process
- Finalise initial project criteria
- Strategic Planning starting from mission statement to action items
- Project scheduling using Gantt chart
- Initial project trial
- Market intelligence and project valuation to ensure a valid value proposition
- Project viability verification with stricter project criteria
- Project criteria freeze based 3, 6 amd 9
- Project launch based on frozen criteria
- Presentation of business plan to management .
Biodesign Syllabus
- Problem statement by consultant
- Concept selection by brainstorming
- Technology deep dive
- Identify the unmet need
- Finalise Design criteria
- Strategic Planning
- Project scheduling using Gantt chart
- Rapid prototyping (STL files from Solid Works, Onshape, Shapr3D
- Market intelligence and project valuation. Draw up Radar Chart to determine project readiness for commercial launch. Radar Chart see here.
- Design verification
- Design Freeeze based 3, 6, 9 and 10
- Design history file what does it consist of and its importance see Radar Chart
- Business Plan Pressentation and how to make a technical presentation
Mr. Koh Yong Guan
A heart warming story of a former biomedical engineer.
A heart warming story of a former biomedical engineer.
Mr. Koh was trained as a biomedical engineer with a master degree in nephrology at the University of Toronto.
When he returned to Singapore in the 1970's and he was posted at SGH as a biomedical engineer. The field was so new that the hospital didn't know what to do with him. He was absorbed into the Administrative Service in July 1979.
He took everything he learned in biomedical engineering and applied them to his new career in administration and high finance. He was the Permanent Secretary for Health in 1996. He then became the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1998. In 2009 he became Chairman of SMRT Corporation Limited. He was the CEO of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore from Sep 1992 to 1997. He then became the Chairman of the Central Provident Fund Board from July 2005 onwards. He is also the non-resident High Commissioner to Canada from Jan 2008. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 1995 for his significant contributions to IRAS. He has retired from the Administrative Service on 1 June 2005.
There you have it, an illustrious career of a former biomedical engineer. The moral of this story is that just apply the same principles you learned in BioDesign you will be a in good footing no matter what career path you have chosen.
Summarised here with the permission of Mr. Koh Yong Guan.
Sabrina Wang
is currently a partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, one of the largest patent law firm in the Bay Area.
She is a graduate of NUS biomedical engineering in 2008.
I recruited her as a medical device engineer for my Singapore medical device startup company OrthoGenix.
During recruitment evaluation she scored 200 on an IQ test ranking her to close to a genius level.
Under an EDB sponsorship, she was posted to VentureMD my seed stage medical device incubator in the US.
While working for me and VentureMD she performed design verification for FDA certification and also performed extensive work on patent due diligence for VentureMD.
During recruitment evaluation she scored 200 on an IQ test ranking her to close to a genius level.
Under an EDB sponsorship, she was posted to VentureMD my seed stage medical device incubator in the US.
While working for me and VentureMD she performed design verification for FDA certification and also performed extensive work on patent due diligence for VentureMD.
She scored a perfect 100 on the LCAT exam law aptitude test and was awarded a scholarship at University of Virginia School of Law for her Doctor of Law (JD)2012 - 2015
She became partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear in January 2022
Cathy Kun Ma
Senior Patent Agent at Morrison & Foerster, one of the largest patent law firm in the Bay Area
Cathy was with MoFo from May 16, 2022 to July 7, 2023
Graduated from NUS biomedical engineering (2005-2009)
I cosupervise her PhD thesis on regeneration of skin using stem cells Postdoctoral Research Fellow,Stanford University 2013 - Apr 2016
The patent section in BN3101 inspired her to want to be a patent agent when she moved to the US.
Jeffrey Tiong CEO of PatSnap
Is the most illustratus graduate of NUS biomedical engineering
20 years ago Jeffrey was my intern at WizPatent a patent document management company I founded in Singapore
I helped him obtain an NUS Overseas College scholarship
He learned everything about patent document management and went out to form a competing company PatSnap supplying patent documents and patent landscapping. Fortunately he is right and I am mistaken.
Patsnap became wildly successful and at the last round of fund raising, Softbank and Tencent invested in PatSnap at a valuation of US $1 billion.
Overnight it became a software Unicorn.
Overnight it became a software Unicorn.
Kana Muramo
Graduated from NUS biomedical engineering 2012 - 2016
She was one of the best student in Biodesign and her team won the Director's Award for BN3101 External Fixator for Wrist Fractures
She went on to do a Master of Science (M.Sc.), Intellectual Property 2016 - 2018 and completed a Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law (GCIP) in 2017
Since 2016 she is working as a Patent Engineer at Donaldson & Burkinshaw LLP, one of the largest law firm in Singapore that deals with Intellectual Properties
She is currently focusing on sitting for the Singapore Qualifying Examination (QE) papers for patent agents.
Summarised from her LinkedIn profile
Summarised from her LinkedIn profile
Euphie Chan
is a Bioengineering graduate and I supervised her Final Year project.
Her project was on the use of an Android phone to monitor and control limb lenthening .
Based on her work on this project she was offered to work as a programmer
She is currently a full stack programmer at Property Guru.
