LFAnt is a biotechnology start-up dedicated to developing technologies to detect and prevent sexually transmitted infections. The Co-Founders of LFAnt, Adam Melnyk and Mark Kumhyr, were searching for interns that took the initiative, learned quickly, had basic technical knowledge in their field, and were familiar with benchtop instruments. Melnyk and Kumhyr were pleased to learn that the MedTech Talent Accelerator program intern exceeded all of their expectations.
Since LFAnt is a start-up, interns were able to work on various projects across many disciplines, including engineering, technology, and business. Melnyk and Kumhyr enjoy working with the Accelerator since MedTech Interns bring a specific skill set that prepares them for the biotech and medical device industries. With such a comprehensive academic foundation, interns can use their transferable and technical skills from academia to learn and quickly adapt to the industry. By the end of the internship, the intern presented a final presentation on their main project that they accomplished under minimal supervision.
By hiring an intern through the MedTech Talent Accelerator, the MedTech team facilitates wage subsidies from Biotalent Canada. Melnyk and Kumhyr mentioned the benefits they received from the wage subsidies since it allowed the company to save time, stress, and money during the entire hiring process.
Thanks to the great work from both the MedTech Intern and the MedTech Team, LFAnt looks forward to continuing their mutually beneficial partnership with the MedTech Talent Accelerator.
Simon Corcos, the Technical Director at Hop Technologies, was surprised by the interns’ output and believes that the interns surpassed their initial expectations. Simon was impressed with how helpful both interns had been and how impeccable their work ethic was. Initially, the interns were expected to complete work that was related to their respective fields. However, since the interns were able to quickly adapt to the startup environment, they were able to contribute to many projects simultaneously. In addition, Simon notes that the preliminary MedTech training gave the interns a good understanding of clinical trials and health research, which allowed them to be successful in their work.
Throughout the internship, an intern’s day-to-day routine consists of working on three to four weekly tasks. The team would attend a weekly meeting to discuss the work completed in the previous week and to create a plan for upcoming tasks. Some tasks required communicating with different areas within the company, so interns would also occasionally meet with other departments such as business, marketing, and software.
While the interns weren’t given full responsibilities to certain tasks that they were working on, Simon says “their work was very valuable to the company and will be truly helpful even after the internship”. He also added that the biggest difference between the MedTech interns and interns who were previously hired was that they were both PhD students, and thus had a stronger sense of competency and had greater research knowledge which helped them throughout their internship. Simon looks forward to hiring more interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator program.
NERv Technologies is a company that utilizes smart monitoring to help detect early anastomotic postoperative complications. In the past year, NERv Technologies has hired two interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator Program and is pleased with their experience.
Amr Abdelgawad, the COO of NERv Technologies, says that both of the interns they have hired have been amazing and performed beyond expectations The expectations for the interns were reasonably related to their respective backgrounds. . For example, the company gave a task about Mechanical design to an intern, MASc in Mechanical Engineering. The expectation from the intern was to develop housing for a new device entirely. In addition to developing the housing, the intern started working with an external vendor to begin the manufacturing process. The other intern hired from the MedTech Talent Accelerator was the first Data Scientist at NERv Technologies. This intern successfully created the infrastructure and architecture of their data science platform for the device. Also, helped to create a platform to maintain proper data collection resulting in improving readings from clinical studies.
Amr mentioned that since the team at NERv Technologies is relatively small, each member of the team has some major project which they would be responsible for - including interns. Each of these projects eventually leads to the commercialization of their very first product.
Overall, Amr and Adam recognize that interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator are more experienced and mature than undergraduate interns that they have hired in the past. With such a successful experience, Amr and Adam look forward to hiring interns from the MedTech program again.
FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc. is a medical technology company that specializes in ultrasound technology scaled in incredibly high frequencies. Over the past year, the company has hired 2 interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator Program.
Lauren Wirtzfeld, the Senior Ultrasound Systems Developer at FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc. mentions that her experience with the MedTech Talent Accelerator Program has been very positive. She notes that the students are quick learners, offer a new perspective, and bring great skills obtained from academia into the company.
When hiring interns, VisualSonics expects them to be self-sufficient, great at time management, and capable of conducting background research when needed. Lauren was happy to notice that the MedTech Talent Accelerator interns were able to work on a task without much supervision since they are graduate students and completed the MedTech industrial courses that the MedTech Accelerator Program provided..
An intern’s routine varied daily. Interns were expected to attend a weekly meeting to update their managers and receive new information. At work, interns were trusted to use expensive and delicate equipment responsibly in order to complete their projects. Lauren mentions that the interns were able to work independently and not only learn about the system, but also test out the processes. Some employees at VisualSonics were pleasantly surprised to see how knowledgeable the interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator program are. Lauren recalls an intern fully understanding and recognizing images of the company’s research and development during the interview process.
Lauren is looking forward to continuing the company’s partnership with the MedTech Talent Accelerator program and is hoping to work with more interns in the future.
Eli Health is a start-up company that enables women to take control of their health through understanding their daily hormone profile. In 2021, Eli Health chose to hire their first intern through the MedTech Talent Accelerator program and it was a great success. Eli Health has already offered the intern a full-time Research Scientist position after graduation.
Thomas Cortina, the Co-Founder and CTO of Eli Health enjoy collaborating with the MedTech Talent Accelerator. Thomas notes that the general process of hiring an intern can be daunting, however, the MedTech Talent Accelerator program makes the process as seamless as possible. Thomas notes the benefits of receiving a list of available graduate-level interns along with information about their experiences and skills. Through the MedTech Talent Accelerator program’s simple and efficient process, the Eli Health team is able to easily hire a knowledgeable intern while saving time during the hiring process.
When searching for interns, the Eli Health team expects students to be familiar with the technical knowledge needed for the position. At work, the employees meet for a weekly meeting to define their focus for that week. The team goes over the key results, goals, and expectations that they hope to complete. After the meeting, the interns are able to work independently to complete their tasks. An intern typically participates in a daily call with their supervisor to go over any barriers that interfere with their project.
Thomas is looking forward to hiring more interns from the MedTech Talent Accelerator program in the near future.