Victoria student a front-runner in medical technology innovation
Victoria Design PhD candidate Gillian McCarthy is helping to take medical technologies from benchtop to bedside, as the Student or Early Career Researcher Award winner at the MedTech CoRE Annual Conference.
Presented in June this year, the award celebrates students and early career researchers in New Zealand who are engaged in research and development of medical technologies.
Co-supervised by Associate Professor Edgar Rodriguez Ramirez from the School of Design and Dr Brian Robinson from the Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Gillian’s research focuses on the requirements of the medical technologies that adolescents with Type 1 diabetes use.
She explores how the design of medical technologies might address issues including anxiety about disclosing diabetes, the stigma surrounding the condition, and the patient’s participation in everyday activities.
“It’s fantastic to see Gillian’s work recognised nationally among top scholars in the area of medical technology, and her success proves that Victoria is a leader in the area of Smart Interactions Design,” says Associate Professor Rodriguez Ramirez.
The Smart Interactions team is a research cluster at the School of Design that investigates how to provide better healthcare and safety through smart interactions that better reflect human needs and desires.