Meet The Teams
Perth Biodesign for Digital Health 2020
We are very excited to announce that our inaugural Perth Biodesign for Digital Health 2020 course has kicked off with a brand new, highly skilled and motivated cohort. The course will see 4 teams of 5 spend time observing care in hospitals and clinics to find unmet clinical needs. They will then spend time applying the Biodesign methodology to choose the best need and develop digital health solutions to solve them. With the help of Curve Tomorrow, teams will also take their first steps toward building the real thing!
The Perth Biodesign for Digital Health 2020 course is part of the WA Digital Health Accelerator, led by the Telethon Kids Institute on behalf of a consortium of partners. The Accelerator is funded by an XTEND WA grant from the New Industries Fund, managed by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
Team 1
Geriatric Medicine + Immunology
Thomas Robba
My name is Thomas Robba, I am an Industrial Designer. I have worked in many areas of design - most recently being mining equipment, engineering, baby products and outdoor furniture. I am also currently studying UX design, and hope to further develop my UX skill set in the health accelerator.
Ian Varughese
Ian is an IT professional with a passion for integrity and efficiency in data analysis, and system design & development. With broad experience in multiple sectors over the last 20 years, the common themes to each engagement have been an intuitive sense of business requirements and the rapid design & deployment of bespoke IT solutions that best serve the business by providing relevant data, enabling better decisions.
Jane Choi
Jane is a PhD student at the University of Western Australia. She is particularly interested in the area of neonatal respiratory physiology to improve lung outcomes for even the smallest babies. Following Honours, she worked as a research assistant within the NHMRC Preterm Infant Centre of Research Excellence. Working with the smallest babies and watching them get better and stronger inspired Jane to further pursue research in this area. During her free time she enjoys doing activities such as bouldering and reading.
Team 2
Anaesthesia+ Radiology
Cameron Rowick
Currently in my 3rd year of medical studies at the University of Notre Dame. I have also been a solicitor for a commercial law firm in Perth since early 2016, and have experience in capital raisings, such as IPOs on the ASX.
Serena Lin
Serena is currently a final year Computer Science student, and will be commencing medical school in 2020 at The University of Western Australia. She is passionate about the utilisation of technology to improve the delivery of healthcare and patient outcomes.
Rebecca Hertzman
Rebecca Hertzman is a recent UWA graduate who has an honours degree in Pharmacology and is interested in all areas of medical research. She has been heavily involved in a range of interfaith, student and youth movement organisations and is especially passionate about social justice and informal education.
Team 3
Mental Health + Spinal Injury
Team 4
Intensive Care + Neurodiversity
Stephen Hicks
Stephen Hicks is a Medical Doctor with a background in electronics and manual labour. He holds an adjunct appointment as a Clinical Senior Lecturer, teaching the fundamental skills of surgery. He is qualified in Aviation and Underwater medicine. He has completed training in Space Medicine. Stephen completed International Space University - Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2018 and has participated in the College of Extraordinary Experiences (2019). He has worked on R&D engineering projects including Agricultural and Satellite communication. He is part of a multinational Machine Learning group working on Mental Health applications and using satellite technology to improve agriculture in developing nations. He is a director of a company developing Spin Gravity and Space Debris solutions for Low Earth Orbit application. Stephen seeks out challenging workplaces that succeed through robust teamwork.
Azadeh Ebrahimi-Madiseh
I am a hearing healthcare clinician-researcher (audiologist) that envisions healthy aging for all. I aspire to improve equality and accessibility of healthcare service delivery through human-centred service design and innovation. I am passionate about solving unmet business needs, improving customer experience and promoting an innovative culture in teams to poke the status quo. My PhD project has been directly translated into industry innovating the previous model of care. I am interested in developing data-driven, customer-centric and sustainable solutions, digital technology (industry 4.0), diversity and travelling where I meet new people, cultures and food.
Oliver Bazzani
Oliver is an innovation consultant, currently leading the product management of an early-stage SAAS platform. He is passionate about the power technology holds to drive social benefit at scale. His experience involves building and supporting multiple innovation ecosystems and start-up businesses in Perth, regional WA, and Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia, with majors in Finance and Business Law; and a position on the Board of Directors of Regional Arts WA.
Jetro Gainza
My name is Jetro Gainza, and I'm an electrical engineer from Chile. My background is Machine Learning applied to signal and image processing, given by +3 years of experience in a healthcare startup where we developed a wearable device that could detect in real time arrhythmia. There I had the chance of also sharing time patients and doctors, understand their needs, and try together our product. It really touched me the first time a patient stated out that what we developed could really change his life quality. Now I work in consulting in Perth, particularly on mining projects. Even though the mining sector it's a really good place to gain data science skills, I feel my passion is still in the healthcare sector given the experiences I had, like the one I mentioned before. That's why my goal of joining this acceleration program is to meet a team with the same vision and passion.
Marina Sarkoski
Business and Law professional with over 4 years of experience in a jurisdiction and 8 years in private and public health setting. Passionate about improving patients health especially to those who live in disadvantaged areas as well as patients with CALD backgrounds. I love being able to empower consumers and communities with services and information through digital solutions. I am a current Master of Business Administration (MBA) student who has previously completed a Bachelor of Laws, Graduate Certificate in Business and Graduate Diploma in Business at Edith Cowan University (ECU).
Wayne Aston
I completed my undergraduate degree in biomedical science and genetics before undertaking an honours year and ultimately completing my PhD in cancer immunology focusing on the mechanisms behind combination therapies. While working towards my PhD I also completed two courses at CERI in entrepreneurship and innovation. I absolutely loved these courses and the way they changed my mindset towards research and innovation. Now, working in the Medical Oncology Clinical Trials Department at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, I have been able to see how the research we do in the lab is saving the lives of cancer patients. I have also been able to work with a number of digital platforms within the health system and get an idea about what works and what doesn't. I have a passion for technology and digital platforms that can be used to both support the roles of employees and aid in the treatment and care of patients.
Hazel Hudson
Hazel Hudson works within the South Metropolitan Health Service ‘Kaartdijin’ Innovation Centre and is currently an Innovation Consultant. Hazel initially trained as a Registered Nurse / Midwife in the UK before moving to Australia in 2005 and now has over 25 years’ experience working in Health across a number of sectors. In 2010, Hazel transitioned into innovation, project management and clinical service redesign and has led a number of successful projects across WA Health.
Shayan Rasaratnam
Shayan is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Medical Sciences and Computer Science at the University of Western Australia. He was inspired to join the Biodesign program as it lies at the intersection of three fields about which he's very passionate: health, technology, and entrepreneurship. Shayan has interned in the Advisory service line at EY and volunteered in organisations such as Coders for Causes and Bloom.
Harry Li
My name is Harry Li. I am studying master of physiotherapy at Curtin University and I am also involved with studyperth as international student ambassador. I have great interest in health sector. I'm from China originally which exposes me to more opportunities and challenges.
Ria Shah
I’m a current student at UWA, doing a Master of Professional Engineering specialising in Biomedical Engineering. Throughout university, I remained engaged in numerous extracurricular activities; following one year of being Assistant Cultural Director, I took on the role of Treasurer of DESI Student Society in 2018. I am currently a committee member of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BES) and Women in Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (WiEMS). Through these organisations, I have attended numerous 'Start up to Success' and 'Innovation in Medicine' events, which really piqued my interest in digital health innovation. What really enabled me to gain a broader perspective on innovative start-up companies was studying both Biomedical Engineering and Finance in my undergraduate degree. In doing courses such as Biodesign, I hope to gain practical experience and create new solutions to have a positive impact on society and potentially change people's lives.
Vi Le
Vi Nguyen Thanh Le received the B.Eng. degree in electronics and telecommunications from Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in 2012, and the M.Sc.degree in computer science from Edith Cowan University in 2015. Her project was remote catheter tip position system in the cardiovascular application. She is currently a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning and deep learning.