How to Engineer a Health Professional Career

NOTE: In this article, “engineering” can refer to quantitative analytical subjects like physics, mathematics, computer science, or finance/economics, but I mostly focus on “biomedical engineers (also known as, bioengineers)” seeking health professional careers.

As president of my undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Society, I frequently answered the existential question, “What is a biomedical engineer?” to other students (and their families). When I became a pre-health advisor involved with forming a new bioengineering major, I had to answer the same questions for students, families, donors, and administrators. Over 30 years after my undergraduate education, as an admissions professional, I ask students about their stories about choosing their major, and it surprises me how the engineering majors in my applicant pools have difficulty answering the same question and how they bring value to a diverse student community.

While no specific statistics show the growth of engineering and computer science majors pursuing health professional careers in admissions pools, the perspective gained from their problem-based education and training offers a systems-based approach to health and healthcare often lacking among traditional biomedical science majors.

This article is meant to praise and encourage those prehealth applicants with engineering or highly quantitative majors and careers for the diversity they bring to an interprofessional health team. These advantages are gaining recognition among many health professional programs seeking innovative, entrepreneurial practitioners.

Engineers Impact Our World 

Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.

Isaac Asimov

Fundamental problem-solving skills define science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and health (STEMH) careers. In 2000, the National Academies identified the 20 Greatest Achievements of the 20th Century, which identified specific advancements and technologies that accelerated the development of today’s world and redefined our lives, communities, industries, and nations. In 2008, they announced 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering that identified significant innovations for the 21st century, including impacts on health and the “joy/quality of living.”

Engineers Drive Healthcare Innovation

Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.

Theodore von Kármán

Over the past 25 years, more universities have supported accredited bioengineering programs to work on these challenges. Biomedical engineers develop tools to support an interprofessional care team, consider how physiological systems interact, and improve systems infrastructure to improve healthcare delivery and efficiency. The BME Society identifies 14 major areas:

• Biomedical Electronics
• Biomechatronics (interactive robotics or prosthetics)
• Bioinstrumentation
• Biomaterials
• Biomechanics
• Bionics
• Cellular, Tissue, and Genetic Engineering
• Clinical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Orthopedic (Bio)Engineering
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Systems Physiology
• Bionanotechnology
• Neural Engineering

Since these Grand Challenges were announced, many programs have prepared students to develop innovative and entrepreneurial approaches (Subramaniam 2024), identifying five common themes of research:

• Smart Humans: Augmenting Human Function
  • Stem cell technologies
  • Tissue engineering
  • Imaging and biomarker technologies
  • Tissue fabrication
  • Microphysiologic platforms
• Immunoengineering: Harnessing the Immune System
  • Platform technologies
  • Mathematical modeling and data science
  • Cell manufacturing and material science technologies
• ExoBrain: Modeling and Understanding Brain Function
  • Brain-computer interfaces and monitoring
  • Electrode technologies
  • Neuromodulation technologies
  • Neural sensing, modulation, and control systems/networks
• Engineering Life: Engineering Genomes and Cells
  • Biomedical data science
  • Genomics and epigenomic sequencing
  • Genome engineering
• Precision Medicine
  • Sensors and instrumentation
  • Computer/mathematical modeling
  • Modeling and control
  • Data science
  • Chemistry and material science
  • Energy harvesting 

Engineers Thrive with Challenges and Failures

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Thomas Edison

Engineering education allows students to assess mistakes and develop possible solutions. With specific problems in mind, biomedical engineers require a strong foundation in mathematics and the sciences. Most programs rely on calculus and differential equations to develop mathematical models characterizing fundamental physical and chemical properties of blood flow, diffusion and osmosis, and drug delivery.

With this quantitative framework, biomedical engineers approach molecular and physiological concepts differently. Enzymes become tools to build structures within cells, and cellular structures reflect the shear stresses experienced within a tissue. Improvement of electrical signal conduction along myelinated nerves can be quantitatively measured and understood. Understanding the forces of capillary action helps design take-home tests for pregnancy or drug exposure.

Furthermore, biomedical engineers must use the body as a partner and use biocompatible materials that minimize immune reactions. Many adhesives are developed to help reduce site reactions for bandages, catheters, and infusion ports, and stents must be coated with anticoagulants to keep recently opened coronary arteries from closing again. Implanted monitors and defibrillators need to be sterilized and maintained post-surgically.

Finally, biomedical engineers need aesthetic appreciation. Engineers always keep in mind the challenge of designing beautiful prosthetics to encourage further rehabilitation and normalization. Amputees don’t want wooden peg legs like pirates; carbon-fiber artificial limbs or assistive exoskeletons that can sense resistance and force are ideal.

In short, biomedical engineering develops all the academic competencies desired for incoming healthcare professionals, and it is not well suited for those who want “easy A’s for high GPAs.”

Engineers Excel in Teams

There are no prima donnas in engineering.

Freeman Dyson

Biomedical engineering involves many complex concepts, so studying and working in teams is essential to their education. Problem-solving and teamwork are fundamental skills, and many programs put engineering students on teams beginning with the earliest engineering classes. At some schools, biomedical engineering curricula may require additional courses in electrical, materials, and mechanical engineering; their expertise is also valued in project design.

Only some people who start in an engineering curriculum come from a solid educational system where math and science are strongly taught. Whether the team is working together on a project or studying outside of class, being on a team requires each student to support one another to address gaps in knowledge and respect others’ perspectives in looking for solutions and other factors that should be considered. Students generally drop out of engineering majors when they feel alone, so many engineering schools have significantly invested in student support to mitigate attrition.

Engineering programs were among the first to adopt “flipped classroom” pedagogy, as professors now monitor and facilitate teamwork and creative problem-solving. Team presentations that pitch project ideas are common, and communication skills are significant components of a project grade shared by the team. Some students may even advance to pitch camps and competitions for seed funding to build devices that are ultimately filed for patents and address community needs.

Engineers Impact Communities

At its heart, engineering is about using science to find creative, practical solutions. It is a noble profession.

Queen Elizabeth II

More importantly, engineers venture outside the academic ivory tower to see how their designs work in the real world. Programs like Engineers Without Borders (International and USA websites) enlist engineering students and faculty (not just biomedical) to address larger community needs, even with the most straightforward solutions. In contrast to the “geeky,” introverted stereotype, engineers exhibit strong service orientation, interpersonal, and teamwork skills by connecting with those in need while remaining respectful of a community’s norms and values (cultural humility).

Engineering World Health enlists students and faculty to repair and maintain medical equipment in resource-constrained nations. They promote STEMH education worldwide to build the foundation for future engineers, and they host Summer Institutes outside the United States to promote cultural understanding. While students may need to be more actively involved in patient care, they witness the importance of an effective care team and system on health outcomes. They may even have a chance to make small but significant improvements that impact many patients and their communities. EWH hosts virtual programs and campus-to-country break opportunities similar to Global Brigades (as detailed in our previous article from SIT). 

Engineers’ Barriers to Health Care Careers

 I have found that engineers have trouble with med school, because they have a different thinking modality.

Goro (SDN Forums Adcom member)

With these advantages that enhance the diversity of a professional student community, why are few engineers successful in becoming healthcare professionals? Here are the five most apparent concerns that challenge engineering applicants and admissions recruiters.

• Interpreting GPA and course content: Engineering majors generally have lower overall GPAs than life science majors due to the highly quantitative rigor of engineering programs. While many upper-level biomedical engineering courses cover the same topics in physiology, their ability to apply mathematical principles is not covered on the MCAT, DAT, or professional school exams compared to the flowcharts of biochemical processes. 
• Calculus-based physics is required for engineering, physics, and chemistry majors, but not life science majors. While calculus often provides a more satisfying understanding of key concepts, most prehealth test preparation only focuses on a general application of key equations and principles. Cardiologists may appreciate finding the maximum volume of blood a heart can hold with calculus, but computers will now provide the calculated answer more quickly in the clinic.
• Remediation math courses take valuable time for a “desirable” application timeline. College math preparation disparities often force students to take “booster” courses in college algebra to be better prepared for introductory calculus. These courses are often perceived as barriers and disincentivize students from underresourced backgrounds to continue on an engineering or a STEM major (Chen 2013). 
• Engineering majors from diverse or underserved backgrounds are specifically recruited for engineering jobs that pay competitive salaries. Companies that hire engineers want diversity in their workplace and partner with local schools, community colleges, and undergraduate career administrators to address these educational resource disparities and bring greater awareness of engineering to the classroom before college. America’s inability to maintain a strong scientific and engineering workforce has been identified as a national concern (2007 and 2010 National Academies Reports, and recently 2022 CHIPS and Science Act).
  • Many national affinity groups support and develop leadership among underrepresented groups in engineering, such as SWE, NSBE, SHPE, MEngN, SASE, NOGLSTP, SACNAS, and the NSPE.
• At most medical schools, few faculty members on admissions committees, prehealth advisors, or learning services professionals have engineering backgrounds, though they may have collaborated with engineering faculty on research. Admissions committees have generally not communicated how engineering courses – which offer opportunities for greater competency in critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and teamwork – provide additional value to their application if they have a lower than desired GPA.

However, more universities recognize engineering students’ talents and entrepreneurship in healthcare. Over the last decade, medical schools have begun to welcome more engineers, and some have specifically developed admissions screening processes for engineering-based applicants interested in pushing the boundaries of the Grand Challenges to impact healthcare (Carle Illinois).

Conclusion

Engineering sharpens a unique set of analytical and problem-solving skills and primes candidates for significant contributions across the healthcare spectrum. The curriculum, deeply rooted in systems thinking and practical application, equips future healthcare professionals to innovate and improve patient care. As we continue to navigate the complexities and challenges of modern medicine, integrating engineering principles into healthcare education is not just beneficial but essential. 

References

Chen, X. (2013). STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields (NCES 2014-001). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014001rev.pdf, accessed August 10, 2024.

S. Subramaniam et al., “Grand Challenges at the Interface of Engineering and Medicine,” in IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, vol. 5, pp. 1-13, 2024, doi: 10.1109/OJEMB.2024.3351717.