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Medical student wins innovation award for designing heart device

Posted on 28 March 2022

A Hull York Medical School student has won a top award for designing a device that aims to improve the quality of life for those at risk of heart failure.

A 3-D drawing of a prototype design for the device. Credit: Ayush Balaji

Ayush Balaji, a first-year medicine student, picked up the Moonshot Award for Innovative Thinking  for his ‘Cardio-Couple’ device 

Ayush’s device is designed to improve quality of life for patients with weak hearts.

After creating design sketches of the device, Ayush pitched the idea at the Healthcare x Digital Conference in front of representatives from AstraZeneca, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Google, Cisco, as well as J&J.

While at the conference, he received an award for innovative thinking and had a sit-down meeting with each of the executives to discuss the idea.

Current devices

With over 64 million cases of heart failure per year and a massive donor shortage, many patients die before they can receive a transplant.

In addition, the cost of the current devices is out of the range of most of the general population.

Ayush’s proposed device will make use of individual pump units connected together in a network that reduce the load on the heart.

While there are already devices used for this purpose, these all present risks, from hemolysis to infections, as well as practical drawbacks such as power failures and the need for a large battery pack.

Vision

Ayush said: “The long-term vision is to provide a low-cost effective solution for heart failure patients and look into other areas of the disease where patient quality of life can be improved. I believe that through devices like this, the life expectancy of patients can be extended while maintaining a decent quality of life”.

Ayush, who is President of the Hull York Medical School Student Research Society, has had preliminary discussions about the device with potential investors.

His future plans include presenting the concept at a cardiovascular medicine conference, publishing a paper regarding its potential for therapeutic use, and to partner with an existing company to bring the device through the clinical trial process.

 

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