The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
New degree will merge medicine and engineering
Education: Cutting-edge course for university
North-east engineering prowess may soon be drawn upon to create life-changing artificial limbs and organs.
Aberdeen University has launched a new biomedical engineering masters programme.
The cutting-edge research has already been vital in inventing potentially life-saving devices.
Biomedical engineering has helped create artificial organs and limbs, as well as surgical machinery and robots.
The move to introduce the course – combining medical sciences and engineering – is a result of doctors becoming more reliant on engineers, given the vast array of technology used in hospitals worldwide.
Course leader Ed Chadwick, himself a top bio-engineering researcher, said: “Biomedical engineering is a fast-growing area, with opportunities for careers in clinical engineering, the medical device industry, and academic research.
“There’s an increased use of advanced technology in medicine, and clinicians are becoming more reliant on engineers to deliver services because there’s so much that’s technologybased now.
“Our new programme has been launched in recognition of the need for training in this area, and draws on the university’s strengths in areas such as mechanical engineering, clinical engineering and fluid mechanics.”
The course will use the expertise of the university’s school of engineering and school of medicine, medical sciences and nutrition.
Dr Chadwick said the interdisciplinary aspect of the programme was “particularly important”, adding: “The programme is delivered jointly by staff in engineering and in medicine, with core conversion courses in anatomy and physiology in life sciences for physical sciences graduates.
“What’s really exciting about this programme is that it opens up new opportunities for graduates who might not have realised they could aim for a career in medicine.
“Biomedical engineering technologies are playing an important role in transforming medicine and healthcare delivery, and our new masters programme offers a route to a career in this exciting and growing area.”