Prof. Sudesh Sivarasu is a professor of biomedical engineering from the Department of Human Biology, UCT. He also holds an adjunct appointment at the North-western University, Chicago, USA, as an international lecturer in Global Health and Technology. Prof. Sudesh Sivarasu is a qualified electronics and instrumentation engineer, with a master’s and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from VIT University, India. He is the Director of UCT’s Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (UCT-BMERC)

Prof. Sivarasu’s research focuses on developing appropriate health technologies with a special focus on their suitability and translation towards low resourced settings. He has supervised 39 students to completion (including 5PhD’s, 28 MSc’s & 6 Hon’s students). He is currently supervising 18 students (which include 6 PhDs and 12 MSc students). Prof. Sivarasu has published widely in the field of medical devices and orthopaedic biomechanics. He has over 47 peer-reviewed journal publications and 50 peer-reviewed conference publications.

Prof. Sivarasu is currently listed as UCT’s prolific inventor with the second most active inventions portfolio across the University. He holds over 51 patent applications across 19 patent families of which over 15 patents have been granted across, USA, UK, South Africa and India. He also holds 3 open-source innovations to this credit. His innovations have led to 3 start-up companies from UCT namely reScribe Therapy, Impulse Biomedical and VAS MedTech. These companies were started by student innovators trained at the UCT’s MDL & OBL.

Prof. Sudesh Sivarasu conceptualised the multi-award-winning FrugalBiodesign™, a unique medical device innovation methodology. He founded the Medical Devices Lab and co-founded the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Lab. This multi-award winning lab has produced several medical technologies such as reScribe, Laxmeter, PatRig, OpenSource Ptosis Crutches, Zibipen, Easysqueezy and the FlexiGyn platform. He also headed the COVID-19 Medical Devices Task Team which was involved in numerous innovations including the UCT ViZAR, UBUNTUBooth, UCT Hearo, FHS ChatBots, and contributed to the clinician validation of CSIR-LIFE Ventilator device: over 18,000 of these ventilators have been made and implemented across South Africa.

Prof. Sivarasu is the recipient of UCT Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s award for achievement in Innovation, DST’s Innovation Bridge Award and NSTF-South 32, TW Khambule award for Emerging Researcher in addition to other 16 MedTech awards across 4 continents. He is an elected member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) and the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) and currently serving as the Co-Chair of SAYAS.

My role in this challenge is spread over both the academic and research and development team. I am the project coordinator for the MediVentors Challenge, as well as the Project Manager for the MzansiVent team and assisting with SAHPRA submission. I have submitted my thesis for my Masters in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cape Town and completed my undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at Stellenbosch University. I also have two years of experience in lecturing the first year UCT physiotherapists in physics at the University of Cape Town.

Jeran has a background in electrical and biomedical engineering and has been working in Japan for the past three years. (2 years as a freediving instructor and 1 year in auditing and testing medical devices). His education and career experience has morphed from electrical engineering through mechanical, biomedical and electrochemical fields.

Etienne is a mechanical engineer with a masters degree from Stellenbosch University. During his undergraduate studies Etienne was introduced to biomedical engineering which planted a decade-long dream to one day become involved in this exciting and challenging field.

After spending many years honing skills and gaining industry experience in engineering consulting, Etienne got the opportunity to join the Medical Devices Lab at the University of Cape Town, finally realising this dream!

Degree: MSc in Biomedical Engineering
Bio: Studies: - MSc in Biomedical Engineering, UCT: 2020 - Present
-BSc in Mechatronics (First Class Honours), University of Cape Town: 2016 - 2019
Experience: - Hardware Engineer (Internship): MiX Telematics International: 12 weeks (2019)
- Student Tutor at SkillUp and Club Electron: 2017-2020

Degree: MPhil Health Innovation
Bio:
I have a background in Biomedical engineering from Makerere University, current co-director of Pumzi Devices; a not for profit aimed at innovating for emergency care services in Sub Saharan Africa, hosting three medical device innovations. I am currently doing an MPhil in Health Innovation with my research project: centred around describing the medical device regulatory pathway during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Degree: MSc BME
Bio:
I am an RSA resident with an MBA and 17 years engineering and Quality Assurance experience. I have also worked as an Operations Director for a Medical device company that I founded with partners. I have extensive experience in quality compliance and regulations of different industries and have developed a passion for Medical Device quality regulations and risk compliance. I am also a certified ISO 9001 Lead auditor.

Degree: MSc BME
Bio: I completed my BSc Mechanical Engineering at UCT with first class honors. I am currently pursuing a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering at UCT. My area of interest is the medical device field. I am currently working on a ventilator related project.

Degree: MSc BSc; UCvenT Market Researcher
Bio: I graduated from UCT in a BSc Mechanical and Mechatronics engineering with first class honours. I have mentored first years and been a tutor throughout my undergraduate degree. I am currently studying my master's in Biomedical Engineering at UCT, in the development of a High Flow Nasal Oxygen system (HFNO). I am currently employed for part-time in Market research for the UCvenT Ventilator team.

Degree: MSc BME
Bio:I did my undergraduate degree in Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Cape Town, and have continued my studies with a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering also at the University of Cape Town. I am excited to combine the skills I have acquired and my passion for healthcare to develop innovative medical devices that meet the unique needs of the South African people.

Degree: MSc BME
Bio:
I graduated with a BSc Mechanical Engineering degree from UCT in 2020. I'm currently in my first year studying a MSc Biomedical Engineering at UCT.

Degree: MSc BME

Bio: I am currently a 2nd-year Biomedical Engineering Masters student, under the Medical Devices group, at the University of Cape Town (UCT). I hold a BSc (Eng) in Mechatronics engineering from UCT. I hold Impulse Biomedical bursary, working together to develop an IoT medical device for my Master's project.

Degree: PhD BME
Bio: I am a Mechanical Engineer, currently embarking on a PhD candidature in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Between academic activities, I consult for a biomedical startup in Cape Town.