Who: Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctorate of philosophy candidate Danielle Zurovcik
What: Zurovcik developed a $3 negative pressure pump to aid Haitian medical relief efforts. The pump is a cheap, portable wound-healing device that uses negative-pressure therapy to draw out excess fluid to speed healing time and reduce the need to change wound dressing.
How it impacts Haiti: Negative pressure devices currently in use can weigh up to 10 pounds and often cost $100 or more to rent for a day. This cheap, lightweight, yet equally effective invention weighs less than a pound and only requires 14 watts to 80 microwatts to operate - energy provided by a hand pump electricity generator. The lack of available physicians after Haiti's earthquake left many injured with open and infected wounds. Once shown how it operates, native families have been able to use the negative pressure pump to keep wounds clean and minimize the need to change dressings. Long-term influences on wound healing, however, still are being investigated.
-compiled by Nalin Chuapetcharasopon
Read More
U.Va. students and physicians team up for another year of free kidney screenings
By Merrill Hart | November 5, 2024Saturday’s screening marked the first by KDSAP at Portico Church, near IX Art Park.
U.Va. Health sees a spike in COVID-19 cases
By Emily Horn | September 4, 2023U.Va. Health ended their vaccination requirements in August, and masks were made optional in most hospital areas in early April.
U.Va. Cancer Center harnesses $12 million grant to support opportunities for undergraduates, ongoing research and new center
By Ellen Wu | January 12, 2023The grant provides an opportunity to establish the Center for Systems Analysis of Stress-Adapted Cancer Organelles, which seeks to find the cause of cancer in individual organelles.
