Principal Investigator Shiladitya Sengupta
The Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Division (HST) educates students who are on a range of academic tracks, including physician and electrical engineer, in key areas of the health sciences and health technology. It also fosters research on topics like the biology of hearing, nanoscale therapeutic devices, and new technologies for heart health. Students in HST's medical engineering and medical physics program currently spend six weeks in India as part of their educations. They are based at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or the Rockland Hospital in New Delhi -- experience that allows them not only to develop relationships with Indian colleagues but also to compare how medical technologies are applied in India as opposed to the U.S. The Division is exploring a major expansion of its partnership with Indian institutions. One key proposal is for a formal relationship between the Division and the planned Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI). Planned is the creation of a THISTI development institute that would aid Indian groups in selecting faculty for the Translational Institute, due to open in 2011. The development entity would also bring THISTI faculty to the U.S. to work with HST colleagues. This exchange would be coordinated with a related program that would bring Indian physicians, scientists, and health technologists to HST to participate in ongoing research.