LEGO blocks are one of kids’ greatest toys – they let the imagination run wild and free, building anything from fairy tales to colorful creations. But when kids become adults, the popular plastic toys rarely come down off the dusty shelves or out of the decade-old toy boxes; they stay behind, barely making it to the real world. However, what if LEGO blocks did exceed past the fairytales? What if people used these tiny toy bricks to build solutions for real-world problems?
On March 24-26, three EnMed M1 students, Sydney Zhou, Drew Schindler, and Duncan Salmon used that exact theory to combat a real-world neurosurgical issue in a low resource country in the annual “Mission: Brain” hackathon. Students competed against more than 170 health care and business professionals from across the world, all tasked to create innovative, effective solutions to real-life neurosurgical cases. In their mission, Zhou, Schindler, and Salmon were given the case of “Patient X,” a male living in Mexico who has undergone years of treatments and surgeries to remove a life-threatening brain tumor and is now missing a chunk of his skull. The students narrowed down their focus on developing a successful and cost-effective product that not only repaired the patient’s skull, but protected the brain from further injury or harm. In just 12 hours, with no prior knowledge or research, the team gathered ideas, researched various health care markets, developed a business plan, and created a viable solution for their patient, Skullpt. Skullpt is an interchangeable interlocking cranioplasty, “In other words, a LEGO set built to mimic skull contour,” stated Salmon. As kids who grew up playing with LEGO toys, “We thought, theoretically, what if we just make something out of LEGO blocks?” said Zhou. Skull prosthetics are not a foreign concept to the health care market, but an implant that is effective, attainable, aesthetic, and affordable had yet to be introduced; that was until Zhou, Schindler, and Salmon. Students were given the opportunity to think about health care in a global sense that would benefit the patient and health care provider. From design to logistics, “We wanted to create something that looks nice, easy and cheap to make, and cheap for the patient,” said Schindler. Skullpt includes the LEGO-inspired pieces necessary for a skull prosthetic, and an application program that processes patient data that informs the surgeon the optimal set of LEGO pieces needed to build the skull, making it easier for the doctor to design. “It’s an innovative invention that is 100% customizable and requires no manufacturing time – doctors will have all of their pieces ready to go,” stated Salmon. From designing an application program, innovating prosthetic design, and creating a business pitch, the students created something viable that moves beyond medicine. “We wanted to approach Skullpt from every angle, not just the science behind it,” said Zhou. Their various backgrounds and skillsets complimented each other, creating a successful LEGO-inspired idea, and ultimately won the students the second place $3,000 prize. “The hackathon was the EnMed innovation process in action,” said Salmon. As only first-year EnMed students, Zhou, Schindler, and Salmon consistently break health care barriers and aim for the top to lead health care innovation. From this experience and his gained EnMed knowledge, Schindler stated, “I feel prepared to identify problems in health care and create something that is helpful to future physicians and patients.” Their confidence and dedication in and out of the classroom to improve and innovate health care shined throughout the hackathon, and for them, it’s only the beginning. The students plan to launch Skullpt far from the ground, and their next steps are collaborating with neurosurgeons at Houston Methodist Hospital to patent their idea, create a business plan, and design prototypes. EnMed is eager and excited to see Skullpt break ground in the global health care community. Congratulations Sydney, Drew, and Duncan!
