Professor Nimmi Ramanujam received the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award, the highest honor for notable contributions to biomedical engineering. Professor Ramanujam perfectly illustrates the measurement criteria that have an effect on career and/or society; succession of vital technical or other contributions; leadership in achieving meaningful goals; past honors; additional achievements as evidenced through publications, patents and more.
Professor Ramanujam’s profound insights, lessons, innovations, inventions and exciting accounts of remarkably compelling discoveries are explored in this long unscripted interview in their entirety below.
The IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, whose roots go back to 1884, and with more than 420,000 members in more than 160 countries, is the world’s largest technical professional organization committed to advancing generation to gain humanity’s advantages. Professor Ramanujam embodies all the excellence of this iconic organization.
This article is based on data from my pro bono work, in more than a hundred projects and global communities, with more than 400,000 famous CEOs, investors, scientists and experts.
Professor Ramanujam’s profile is so broad that a summary is provided with the non-profit organization IEEE TEMS (see the interview series – Stephen Ibaraki – “Transformational Leadership and Innovation. . . “). This direct link to the interview page, profile and video interview.
Here is an excerpt from the profile summary.
Professor Nimmi Ramanujam is the Robert W Professor of Engineering. Carr and professor of cancer pharmacology and global health at Duke University and co-director of the Radiation Oncology and Imaging (ROIP) program at Duke Cancer Institute. She founded the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) in 2013, where she leads the creation of impactful responses to the lives of women and women around the world. Training and empowering a new generation of challenge solvers who can paint across disciplines, cultures and countries is an integral component of his paintings. It also fosters collaborations between engineers and non-engineers to harmonize their expertise to address complex global challenges.
Professor Ramanujam is co-founder of the Calla Health Foundation, which has been announced worldwide.
Professor Ramanujam has more than 20 patents and publications and has raised more than $40 million for her center’s initiatives.
His exemplary contributions come with the imaging device called a pocket colposcope, which transforms the complex clinical colposcope (for the diagnosis of cervical cancer) used in specialized settings into a simple, affordable, and portable device that can be deployed at a local clinic. The set of learning rules your team has developed has the ability to help number one care providers, especially midwives and nurses, when specialists are limited.
In low-income countries in particular, surgery or radiotreatment for cancer is scarce and spaced. This calls for continuous innovation and encouraged Professor Ramanujam’s team to create a fluid-based ablation treatment for fake tumours: Tri-solve.
Professor Ramanujam and his team have created a device called Callascope that uses the concept of self-examination as a student-centered method for promoting fitness. In the hands of women, the Callascope can be used to privately explore the internal reproductive anatomy and facilitate awareness and deeper one of the cervix and cervical cancer.
Professor Ramanujam used his penchant for innovation, the arts and storytelling to create the visual organ, a platform for percentages and archives of stories of growth, pain, resilience and good looks that surround the inner reproductive anatomy through women’s voices, non-binary. and transgender people. Inspired by Callascope, she worked with collaborators who specialized in film on a documentary titled The (in) Visible Organ that features private stories such as cervical cancer and physical inequalities.
Professor Ramanujam has established a style of training of trainers called Ignite, in which Duke scholars collaborate with students (usually top academics) to solve local problems within their communities.
Professor Ramanujam’s developing honor roll is a style of commitment, dedication, creativity, talent, hard paintings and much more. I come with a partial list in our interview.
AI is used to generate the transcript which is then edited for brevity and clarity while maintaining the chat cadence. AI has an accuracy of around 80%, so you need to move on to the full video interview for total accuracy. Timestamps, however, are provided with the proviso that they are approximate. The interview is for all audiences, from academics to world leaders in government, industry, investment, NGOs, the United Nations, clinical and technical organizations, universities, education, media, translational. studies and development, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary paintings and much more.
Nimmi, thank you for coming today. You have many other achievements and contributions to the global good, Tech for Good, adding inclusion, diversity and equity. It covers almost everything. And I like the facet of interdisciplinarity. Actually, the nature of today’s paintings is to be absolutely effective. You are an entrepreneur. I’m an investor, so I also perceive that entrepreneurial side. You just won this major achievement, the 2023 IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award. Congratulations on a glorious and continuous career. One of the questions that interests me and my audience as well. You have decades of contribution in so many other areas. What were perhaps two or 3 turning points that triggered this passion, commitment and innovation?
Yes; I will say that much of my interest in what I do today was, I suppose, what I did to be an unconventional engineering path. I was a reluctant engineer. If I had gotten away with it, I would have dedicated myself to the arts. I was a musician. I am still infrequently a musician. I think it was an area that I could have for myself, to create, to aspire, to have no limits. I liked this kind of open thought process. At the same time, it was very analytical. I think at the time he had clever problem-solving skills, which was obviously applicable to music.
I took what I would say, it’s the traditional way. In college, I think my parents expected me to pursue engineering or some kind of career in STEM. And I didn’t really like it. I didn’t log into it in any way. I think the component of that was context. It’s like learning scales on a piano, but without seeing the biggest piece and being able to appreciate what you want to know. I use this analogy because when I think of interdisciplinary paintings or inclusion, I learned that engineering, like a piano or any other instrument, is a tool. And once you can believe that; it is one of the many pieces of equipment that can be used to make a difference. Adjust your vision of education. Adjust your vision of what you can do. I think it was a turning point for me.
Another turning point has been running in the domain of women’s fitness. I think physical care, cancer, all those terminologies, can be very two-dimensional. When it’s two-dimensional, it’s hard to empathize. But if you are at the point of the problem, then you will be able to perceive and appreciate it better, the nuances of the complexities of aptitude and its absence. And developing in a country where I think the reports I had back then didn’t seem so unusual. But now, reflecting and being in the countries where I am, I think, my God, I can relate. Having the reports of some and then having the equipment allowed me to continue synthesizing. There are those teams, which you learn. But when they arrive just in time. When they are informed through the broader context. Feed your creativity, your passion, your preference to bring everyone to the table, because you know, artistic skill is everywhere. And that’s why I can’t say it was a turning point. But I can say that the kinds of things that have made me evolve in my career have a lot to do with those fundamental ideas.
It’s fascinating. That spectrum, to be a component of that career. You have this interest in music, but you’re also analytical. You go to college and dive into the analysis, but then you realize that your context is important and that facet of the woman. Bless you. It’s like multidimensional with this multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary facet. I see that pervading all the paintings you make. This motivates your hobby and commitment, etc. You argued that your circle of relatives would be very satisfied if you dedicated yourself to engineering. Or are there elements that have been a catalyst for your analytical side?
I will say that it is inherently attractive that you communicate about it. My mom is a musician. My father was an accountant. So you can possibly also tell that component of that (passed on). But I think the reason I was brought into engineering is the idea that I want more for my children than for myself. I think the engineering had to be emblematic of that. If I had said, I want to examine the music, it might not have gone so well. Because the concept was, I wish your life is bigger than ours. I think I did that. Because that’s what I knew. Understood. I didn’t see music as a career. Of course, there were the interests of my parents, to which I was exposed. Possibly it would have influenced my way of thinking and doing things. But the other was cultural. Just this concept that I want to do things that give me security. That I have to be independent, which was not the case with my mother, nor her mother. A replacement was desired. And she identified that, that she was progressive at the time.
You have to get into engineering. You have a wonderful career in this field. But women are still underrepresented in engineering. Was this road more complicated in a sense?There are demanding situations on this path because we still do not have enough balance: inclusion, diversity, etc. I would like to know your opinion on this area.
Well, it was actually complicated. We all want to see other people with whom we can identify. I will say that I have had many such reports for someone coming to this country. I mean, you start wasting the number of other people you can associate with. And then I think in engineering, I actually felt like I was inferior. Because there were kind of two hits, right? The one that you are in the minority, but also that preconceived idea that perhaps women are good. I think it made me feel very insecure about what I did. Then I had a feminine role style in my advisor. She made a big difference. Just having someone you can relate to. I just made a global difference. There is an implicit trust. When you receive advice, you know it comes from a position where you can relate to your own non-public reports and insights. Perhaps that was the first step in making me believe that I didn’t necessarily want to conform or behave as others expected. That didn’t mean it was incredibly complicated at each and every level of my career, adding promotion and tenure. Because, you know, I expected failure. Somehow I controlled myself to triumph over everything. It was an arduous task. Nothing trivial about it.
But I will say that as I move in this direction; when you’re part of a minority organization, in a weird way, maybe not so weird, you build closer bonds with some other people that you can relate to. A small organization. It is a more intimate organization. I think that’s where strength provides the way. Maybe if there are many other people in the room, it would be difficult to literally connect. But if you have a small organization of other people, you can express your thoughts, emotions, and share your point of view more openly. So I think that’s the other thing that was really ironic, but maybe it really helped, but it really helped to have the scaffolding, the help to deal with the circumstances. There is always a solution, but at least you can vent. You can share your experience in Array. . . sympathize. . . the strength of commiseration.
I can see that narrative arc. You have this side of being a minority, a woman. And yet, you had a mentor. This mentor was able to provide that additional platform or, concept, a path as well. That’s what you do too. I’ve seen your career, all your mentorship on so many other levels. You pay for it upfront, right? I can see how this guides what you’re doing today. But now you are the Robert W. Carr Professor of Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology and Global Health at Duke University and co-director of the Radiation Imaging and Oncology Program (ROIP) at the Duke Cancer Institute. She founded the Center for Global Technologies for Women’s Health (GWHT) in 2013, where she leads the creation of impactful responses to improve the lives of women and women around the world. What led you to those roles?Once you’ve given a narrative of the story of moving into those roles, what do you focus on?What are the big demanding situations you need to address?
This requires a pause. I talked about women’s health. I also think about the paintings I did during my graduate career and beyond. While I would like to do everything in the world, to make it a better place, I also have to build on my strengths. Things, words, or characteristics, or non-unusual elements that have arisen; where I was running over the cancer. I was focusing on female cancers. I looked at cancer from a biological point of view. I looked at it from a translational point of view. I was looking for it from an implementation perspective. I dabbled in all spaces. There is nothing like exposure.
When you have the opportunity to affiliate with a branch or entity outside of your space, it gives you the opportunity to log in. Understand those other spaces. In my case, I sought to weave my own narrative. I believe what I achieved in all of this, and nothing was linear, was it?Everything happens in a very convoluted way. I learned that there was an underlying theme.
Again, I think I discussed it before, there is this vision. You want to make the world fairer. Disparities want to start addressing it so that it is equitable. Health disparities may exist. It can also exist in training. This can address those inequalities through the final disparity gap.
Once I had that anchor, is it about knowing what the skill sets are?Who are the other people I want to be. . . perceive and with whom to work?How do you create a collaborative environment because you can’t do it?yourself?
I think that’s what led me to create the center, but also to build those antennas, because I knew I could have a hub. But without those other rays, those other branches and those other connections, I wasn’t going to be very productive. While not everyone happened intentionally, I think sometimes, without necessarily being intentional, you do the things that intuitively make sense to you.
When I was asked to be co-director of the program, I said yes. When I sought to do similar biological studies of the response to breast cancer treatment, I learned that being in the field of pharmacology would give me the opportunity to work with researchers. there and thus build relationships and open new collaborations.
Similarly, in global fitness, I didn’t know what that meant. I mean, I was looking to be a global fitness researcher, but what did that mean?So being in this area and understanding the perspectives of those researchers, again, influenced what I did.
I think about other people and how other people express their aspirations. Once they gave me an idea of what I wanted to do, and it also helped me to keep evolving. . . I was able to get ahead and see what it means to be in pharmacology. Working with someone in pharmacological research. What is it like to paint the way I need in the box of global health?
Today, my center takes care of all those things. Essentially it’s about how women’s health?Now it looks very broad, but then you can break it down. There are inequalities in health. There is a school inequity. Of course, there is gender inequality. How do you approach each of them? For all those things to happen, you need a number of skill sets and relationships. Think of it as a third layer. This is where all those entities come into play. And those collaborators come into play. To make it complete. My collaborators range from an immunology researcher to a program planner or executor in Kisumu, Kenya. That’s what I appreciate. Lifelong learning never stops. It’s difficult, but very rewarding, because you never get bored.
It’s fascinating. I can see their building communities. There is a Venn diagram of overlap. But they are also concentric circles, because you take merits and amplify them, almost as multipliers of forces, to have those other communities.
Professor of Engineering Robert W. Carr, this aspect of analytical engineering; Professor of cancer pharmacology, as you mentioned, this is a vital facet of all of this. And then Global Health at Duke and the Center there. And co-director of the program, enjoy radiation oncology and imaging (ROIP).
There will be all those spaces of AI, device learning, etc. You have an anchor, an institute. You have those awareness systems all over the world. And that’s where the Global Women’s Health Technologies organization you’re the center of, which you also created. I can see all those angles coming together, in research, education, community, disciplines, cultures and countries. They discussed equity and inclusion, and all spaces.
And I also see this concept of marrying engineers and non-engineers, so you can do more yourself. Because they are complex and the most interdisciplinary aspects you can bring, you can solve some of those complexesArraynd again, just amazing, very unique.
I wish more people would look at what they’re doing, because it’s a model, to get things done and have that kind of equity, on a global scale.
But it is also in and societies. You co-founded a company called Calla Health Foundation. Can you communicate about the Calla Health Foundation?
I admit I was a company before that, and we did well, but it didn’t work on the basis of the larger traditional measures. So when I think about starting a business, if I may, I would start a non-charity. The explanation is that I am developing technologies to address disparities in fitness; I’m not saying you shouldn’t benefit or make money, because that’s what makes the world pass by. But I have a legal responsibility to make things affordable. Sometimes, when you need to do that, it’s not up to the actors who can simply give you that funding, is it?It becomes very difficult.
I told myself I had to be competitive. Be competitive and apply for grants to continue supporting a company that can necessarily stick to its mission. But at the same time, do not run out of funds.
I had the great fortune to increase the budget through SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research Programs/Small Business Technology Transfer). I mean, I’ve raised over $10 million that way, and it allows me to have autonomy.
That’s what I mean when I say I sought to create a nonprofit, but I didn’t need to make sure I couldn’t apply for those other investment mechanisms. Now, I’m contemplating expanding this to a for-profit, non-profit organization. Because of this interest, it was very difficult for me to get a license for the technology. I mean, it’s designed for a specific population. consumers, right? This is not a giant market in the traditional sense. I essentially had to think about it.
That’s why I started a company. I sought to do things on my own terms. It’s a very slow process. I recognize that, right? Because if you don’t have a massive inflow of funds, or if you have to wait a year to get a grant, it can delay things. But I feel like I was able to accomplish the things I was looking for, albeit at a slower pace. I can work largely with the countries and partners I need to meet their needs, and be smaller than looking to distribute a large number of products. That’s not my mission, is it? It is not a product. I’m going to have them everywhere. It’s more like a problem. Let’s say it’s gynecology. I’ll expand the team to this. But I also have to raise funds. I will think about designing the company in a way that allows me to be autonomous.
For all this to happen, I had to do two things. I had to make sure the ship was built as well as possible to get out of port. And there are investment mechanisms, now for universities, that allow you to do that. I mean, of course, you have to prove your point. This means it can go all the way to get regulatory approval for a generation before it leaves port. Once you have received the permit, you will have to leave the port, of course.
In doing this, I said to myself preemptively: how can I lessen the dangers with what I have?I’ve done clinical studies all over the world. Again, just look for the market. But look for the market for non-consumers. By doing all this, a priori, when I went to the company, I knew what I had to do now to get a smart product. Going through the procedure of moving from a product prototype, to design, product development, then regulatory parts. and, of course, marketing. But it’s just another model. The one that required some kind of artistic thinking that I think would have been very difficult to set up, if I had allowed it to someone.
The long story is that I sought to make sure I passed it on to the right end users. I had to know how to do it. I would say the piece of the moment. It is very self-centered; I’m fine, if it doesn’t work, right?Because in the most productive case, except for the world. In the worst case, I have vital classes to take my students. So it’s a win-win situation.
This total concept of translational studies. I work with educational institutions (organizations). I am part of an organization called ACM, Association for Computing Machinery. Without a doubt, the number one in IT. Translational studies are important, are they rarely?If there are studies, you still have to do something with them. Ultimately, if you need to take advantage of Earth’s ecosystems. So I mean more than humanity that encompasses people. You do that. What it’s doing also reminds me of an organization called The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI; see my Forbes article, Terasaki Institute Top Biomedical Innovations Transforming The World In 2022). There is so much confluence between what you do, I will send you a link.
I would like that. Conversations are going very well, right? The global is getting a little smaller.
They are also very focused on translational research. They have a mechanism to do that marketing. Because at the end of the day, you need it to be sustainable. Therefore, it is not limited to ending subsidies. This is how you can achieve some kind of mainstream adoption on a global scale if you also make it sustainable through yourself.
I can see the corporate facet or the Calla Health Foundation as part of it. It has developed a network of more than 50 components. It has local and foreign educational establishments, hospitals and establishments and non-governmental organizations. Ministries of Health. perfil has countries such as Serbia, Peru, Brazil, Kenya, Mozambique, etc. I can see all this together. And then similar to that, it has more than 20 patents and 150 publications. And overall, it raised more than $40 million. Do you work with the Gates Foundation?You?
The short answer is no. They help cervical cancer. They have an organization. Array. . (mentions, it was called Global Good) Array. . They work on cervical cancer with the goal of providing deep information as a way to make surveillance much less difficult and more efficient. Personally, I haven’t talked to them about this particular topic, but I really appreciate what you say. I think from concept to impact, evident scalability and sustainability is key. I think this is a domain where I can be very informed. I think one of the demanding situations is to even be able to ask the questions, to perceive what the questions are. For me, part of it was through that process, and I can relate to what you’re saying now, because like I said, it’s very slow, very inefficient, and it’s rewarding. But I ask myself, looking to make this sustainable and also scalable: what do I deserve to do? Speed up? Right? This is the challenge for me. I think being able to get direction and a better sense of dominance is, I think, a vital thing that I see as a shortcoming. I recognize it and I hope that this can change.
(We’re talking about the Gates Foundation; Maurizio Vecchione, former head of Global Good Fund/Labs; other entities and introductions).
I’m fascinated with those other gadgets you’ve created. This technological innovation for the prevention of cervical cancer. Can you tell us more about those other devices?
There are several: an imaging device called a pocket colposcope, which transforms the complex, expensive, and bulky clinical colposcope (for the diagnosis of cervical cancer) used in specialized settings into a simple, affordable, and portable device that can be deployed at a local clinic.
Callascope, which uses the concept of self-examination as a student-centered method for the promotion of fitness.
The Tri-solve liquid-based ablation cure for fake tumors is unique because it uses ethanol injection to damage tissues, local chemocura to poison cells (minimizing systemic effects), either combined in a solution with a cellulose polymer that gels on contact with tissues. by confining the remedy and preventing off-target effects.
How are they emerging on a global scale?And what were the gaps? Maybe someone in the audience will say; You know what, I can speed it up by learning what you’re doing.
Oui. Je I think one way to describe it holistically is continuity of care. Every time I faint and do one thing, you notice that something else is missing, and to get there. . . do what is for the patient, you want to take care of the continuity of care.
Let’s go back to the pocket colposcope; I mean, they’re based on stories, right? I was in Tanzania and a gynecologist who runs a cervical cancer screening program told me, “You know, women hate speculums. And we can’t colposcopes. Can ? You can fix it? The original, I think the vision was, let’s put the two in combination. Let’s make a colposcope without a speculum. He was dead on arrival, because he was looking to simplify a very complex problem. But then, this kind of fork. I said, okay, you know, I can’t do everything. At the same time, let’s focus on a generation that can really put the colposcope in someone’s pocket. And he also said something very interesting. He said: “Can you build a herera that can be put inside. . . “. And it is that, some of those words, only stay with me. And then I don’t forget to go back to the United States and talk to a colleague in environmental science. He showed me this skinny little herera that he had bought in Taiwan. I put the two and the two in combination and said, my God, a colposcope tampon. That’s what I originally called it. So point of service, tampon, colposcope. Basically, this is how the word type “Pocket” was born. And it just kind of dropped. . . (in those). . . moments where I had this concept in my head, and all the pieces came together here. Lo and behold, we made a colposcope. I am very proud of it. It’s as smart as the most productive colposcope on the market.
It’s a very undeniable way of thinking about things. Don’t make sustainable innovations. Don’t build on anything that’s been built before. Build something new. Colposcopes are built around specula. You have to be outside, not inside, because this speculum that was invented two hundred years ago dictated everything that followed. How can I make it focus on women because everything that has been developed for gynecology has been developed through men?Thus was born the pocket colposcope.
They’re excited about that. But then my vision was to make it have no speculum. Again, I think going to those countries opened my eyes, in the sense that it’s not enough to build a technology, portable or effective or whatever. You have to have people. . . You will have to use it. There has to be demand. And if there is worry and apprehension, it does not bode well.
One of the most demanding situations and this is not exclusive to low- and middle-income countries, I would say it is universal, is the concern of a gynecological examination. The speculum is not something that can be written about, and many women do not pass there. I see that I ici. Je see it in other countries. I thought: What if a woman can be empowered to oppose the gifts of the doctor?What would that do? And so Callascope was born. A very, very complicated project. I mean, there’s no precedent. There is no point of reference to tell you. That’s the pressure. That’s how long you want to be. It was all empirical. Sometimes I was, being a guinea pig myself. But that’s it, it worked. It was amazing. I can’t tell you how amazing it is. . . So he won a lot of awards, anyway. I was recognized. Both were, and I prefer to move on to Tri-Solve, because there’s a similar theme here.
While I have all those rewards, there is this mismatch. Many other people were reluctant to use those technologies. I learned something that I was not aware of before. When you build something absolutely new. when it is not the way; it doesn’t look like what you’re used to. It doesn’t work like what you’re used to thinking about how things work. If you’re not an early adopter, that’s a problem.
So, for example, one thing I said through a specific provider is that women are afraid; they will never use it. Or it’s very different from what I’m used to. I can’t get him to paint even if they used much more complex devices. So those were the kinds of comments I got.
That’s also another explanation for why I had to lead this. It wasn’t just a good thing, I have this technology. planners that was a smart thing. So I just wanted to say that in thinking about those innovations, we were very patient-centered. But in this procedure, we have learned that replacing is difficult to do. And now what we do is we work directly with the other people who will use those products to avoid that inertia that often happens when something that expands is not something that other people can associate with. This is another explanation for why this company has increased the budget to distribute those teams to those communities to get feedback from the end user and know their attitude about what they think. The effects have been transformative. What we’ve heard is very different from how they feel. How do you do that without being able to take away those technologies and give them to other people who want them?
As far as the remedy is concerned, I would say that Tri-solve was born from a holiday in Zambia. There is very little surgery. In fact, there is only one user, this is also true in Kenya, if you move to the western component of Kenya, there is possibly a surgeon who can perform a hysterectomy. There is probably no colposcope or qualified suppliers to do what you want. and, in fact, there is no radiation. He just won a chemotherapy regimen, which we know very well is not effective. So what does it do?
I saw ethanol on the table that is used to sanitize the table and I thought, well, they may have access to ethanol. Let’s use it. It is quite undeniable. But ethanol, very, very effective, is very permeable. It’s actually been used in the United States and elsewhere to treat inoperable cancers, but it’s not very effective, because it seeps everywhere and so, especially if you have a stiff tumor, and it literally doesn’t do a smart job. sought to put a polymer. Something that makes it sticky, like cornstarch. We analyzed the polymers considered safe by the FDA and found this apple cellulose polymer; my student did. In our efforts to make it slimy, we cleaned the apple cellulose and ethanol in the sink and found that it had turned into a gel. Like what? Turns out he underwent a phase change. We didn’t even know. And look, you have this little capsule that bureaucratizes the tissue that the ethanol hijacked. It’s liquid when you inject it, but when you inject it, it’s like a cotton gel. Ethanol is necessarily limited to this. So when creating, in addition to adjusting the length of the gel, you can adjust the place where you treat, without the off-target poison poisoning, but also with enough concentration to treat effectively. It was remarkable. We trust that. We use it as an immunomodulator, with wonderful success. We use it, like what I call, a double shot. So you have polymers that bring chemotherapy agents, right?
What if you can also have a polymer with ethanol and the chemotherapy agent where you can destroy the membranes with ethanol?necessarily cause necrosis and simply decimate the tissue. And then there’s the cytotoxic agent that can come in and kill the cells. Prevent them from proliferating. These are all the tracks that came out. I don’t think you can get that in a lab. You have to go there and look for the elements that seem so obvious, so simple. They may not be, but they come back, and use that inspiration to create your new tools. That’s why. . . in a way, it’s like art. You have those skill sets, but you have a blank net. If you are the artist, you will have to be encouraged. The pocket colposcope, the Callascope, the Tri-solve are encouraged through reports around the world. And all I have to do is practice and listen, and they pretty much tell you how to invent. It’s the long and short story, possibly it would be more than you asked to know, however, there you go.
Yes, it’s a wonderful story. I know you’re learning deeply with your pocket colposcope. A complementary set of deep learning rules that your team has developed has the ability to help number one care providers, especially midwives and nurses, when access to specialists is limited. This means that it is ideal for the global south and with a much greater implementation capacity. Do you also use deep learning in your Callascope?
That’s the vision. Now we use it with the pocket colposcope. We just received a grant to do it in Kenya. Yes, so we’re developing those deep learning algorithms as assistive technologies for healthcare providers for telemedicine, because again, there’s an adoption phase, right?? We think so because there is no disclosure. There is a higher billing. Start by making it an assistant, and then maybe even for annotation. Who has done a lot in space; then maybe it will become the main tool. As other people adopt and settle for your value. As with the pocket, you have to unfold it and see how other people use it, work with them to replace it. And then, of course, it’s a tool that can be used as a popular care.
I think that’s also the way we technify the deep learning procedure. Ideally, it would serve as an aid first. We do two kinds of things. We do deep learning for diagnostic purposes. But we also do a lot of unsupervised symbol segmentation, as a way to jot down symbols so that other people can be trained faster. There are many anatomical features that can confuse your diagnosis that other people don’t know about. There are usually only a multitude of symbols on an online page that say this is how things look. But actually, someone makes notes for you. How can we do what this expert is doing?
Deep learning is anything that, in a larger space, is about understanding what the expert is doing. Know that there are safe things they see that are important. But there are also things they don’t see that deep learning algorithms will see. . The other is to see how they even describe the symbols. What do they physically do with those symbols?What’s. . . locked in a circle? And then try expanding the team to automate this process. So think of deep learning and symbol segmentation, either as an educational tool and as a tool, and maybe for diagnosis. Ultimately, a standalone tool that can take experts to the hardest part. places of scope for cervical cancer screening.
There’s a bit of work in this area, especially on the deep learning aspect and then on marrying skill with images. There is a professor, Alex Wong. Il holds the Canada Research Chair in AI and Medical Imaging at the University of Waterloo. I would propose it. I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to him, but he’s done a lot of paintings. (We talked about the additional entities that can be brought in due to the alignment with Nimmi’s paintings. )
Oh, it’s wonderful.
The other thing, which I find desirable in his work, with all the awards won, is just a remarkable list of awards. But this idea, (In)visible organ, a platform for percentage and archive of stories of growth, pain, resilience and good looks that surround the internal reproductive anatomy: can it communicate to us about the (in) visible organ?
Oui. Je I think I discussed earlier, a tool is as smart as, you know, if someone uses it. What I learned with Callascope, and I used it in Ghana, Peru, USA, and Ghana, Peru, usa. USA At home and clinic not to public use. It’s that maybe 10% of women, no matter where they were, in some places, less, even (know) what they were in. They have no idea. This is the portal of life. A very vital component of your body. And if you don’t know, how do you deal with it?
I think my colleague is saying; “Well, if you have a mole on your skin that looks like cancer, you want to pass it on to the doctor. But if you can’t see it, how are you going to know?It encouraged me to think of a way to turn it into a narrative. that can be shared with a wider community. The word I thought, in this. . . he wondered why, in fact, he is invisible.
What happened were some things that came out of those trips. One was, I wanted to do, an art exhibition. Basically, this vital narrative. And I sought to see how it can be expressed in other ways; uproar. As in fact I have been interested in art and storytelling.
I approached a colleague at the Center for Documentary Studies and asked how we could do that. We thought we were going to solicit art from artists who, in a space, were interested in this story. We won works from around the world. global that will be exhibited at Duke University’s Rubenstein Center for the Arts. I think another 500 people will be on display in 3 hours. He was there for a month and many other people visited him. I think then we moved it as a virtual gallery with the stories of the other artists.
It was my first effort to say, what are the things I can do to build a community?And then I recruited a documentary filmmaker at my center. In fact, a student who is interested in doing a thesis and said, we make a documentary from it. We worked with my colleague at the Center for Documentary Studies and the student who is now at MIT in the world of media studies. We are creating a 45-minute documentary about Callascope cervical cancer. Our experiences abroad. Have other people communicate about your experiences; just a story. But with as an anchor Callascope, Organ (In)visible, said documentary Organ (In)visible.
This was presented at one of the biggest conferences on HPV, which is very exciting. I don’t know how many other people enjoyed it. But since then, it has been projected through many academics and Americans into top schools and universities. In the end, what I learned was. . . a bit like a face-to-face class, it’s educational. It is a way of transmitting information, of sharing knowledge, not in the traditional way. But to be able to spread it in the community, to have spaces, even in this process, to be able to create awareness.
As undeniable as that you have a service; Take care. It’s unexpected how few people know this. This is what the (in)visible organ is. This is an educational initiative that is not one-dimensional. It is fostered through technology, but includes storytelling. This includes art and any other type of medium that can convey it. If you look at the web, there are images. stories of artists, photographers, from Morocco or Ghana. The concept is to hint at those stories. Let’s organize this just for the pretty stuff, Array. . . reproductive and women’s health.
I can see the price of what you’re doing. This will resonate with Generation Z, those born from 1997 (-2011) and Generation Alpha from 2012. And adding Generation Y (Generation Y, 1981-1996). I can see that all this very horny to those groups.
I can also see it incorporated into the paintings that are being made on the metaverse. (I mention entities that generate metaverses based on positive social effect and well-being. )I can see the integration of what you’re doing, especially in these (in) visual organ paintings, where there are narratives and stories, and then you can have avatars that can help in that storytelling and in an immersive setting.
And keep in mind that running on this type of metaverse is a much more global virtual representation than it exists. And integrating any type of accessibility device. So it doesn’t have to be a complex headdress. . .
We don’t have much time left. I have to answer the last two questions. I am fascinated with his paintings in the style of training the master named Ignite, where Duke scholars paint alongside students (usually the best scholars in the school) to solve local problems within their communities. And the explanation for why this is that lately I talk to a lot of CEOs who talk a lot about diversity, equity, inclusion (DCI), following the concept of teacher teacher. This concept of tutoring where other scholars can guide other scholars and so on – cascading tutoring. This will help with diversity, equity, inclusion (INN). Can you tell us more about this Ignite program you created?It’s just fascinating.
It is also a component of this umbrella of other education tactics. When my students design. . . able to solve problems, for example, during COVID, right?When there was a lack of resources, students can start designing without delay. answers, definitive answers. But as you know, I work with collaborators to design answers for them, and I hope with them, but why don’t we give them those skills?Or why are those skills taught to academics or other people who are on point?of the problem?
Like everything, it’s a wonderful experience. Implemented for funding. Send academics to Kenya. Ask the teachers at the school, what do you want?What do you want your students to learn?They said, “Tinker – Be to build things. ” I said, great, what do they want to know?So ask the scholars and they said, “We wish soft to examine in the evening. “They don’t have reliable access to electricity.
I gave a course, for academics in design thinking, for network development. We build teams that can solve a problem. I said, I don’t need you to build a product. What you can do is create a product that is a program (participatory learning) that you can do in a semester. So they created a product (participatory learning program).
They went to Kenya in Muhuru Bay. Everything they had imagined had to be abandoned. They had to do it again, but they knew what they were looking to do.
50 students, all girls. Learned, make a smart flashlight from renewable energy. It is still used today. Instead of 2014, and now Array. . . they continue to expand flashlights and other solutions. But the idea that they can take that and apply it immediately to the problem. I didn’t want to stop buying batteries for a lamp that worked a little. That’s what encouraged him.
And then we expanded to other countries. I have a tendency to make a lot of immediate prototypes, check it out in other countries and be temporarily informed of what’s going on. We have reached a sweet spot in Guatemala. I had a student who took our course say, “I have to do this in Guatemala. She is very enterprising. She created a base in Guatemala and she is Guatemalan. She heard about this renewable flashlight program. She said, “why not make water?” Therefore, we have designed a program around drinking water. It has now expanded to around 500 schools and has reached over 1,000 students. The concept was to grow the indigenous network. . . and teach them about water and how to build responses to blank water. It turned out that they had an explanation for why the water was dirty for non-secular reasons, either a supernatural explanation that they had no control over, or they were told something else. of what was truly the truth. And the organizations were making policies to which they could not contribute. So, throughout this whole process, what happened was that they worked with a local NGO and started educating the network about water issues to literally influence policy, because they gave other people voices that they didn’t have. I think that is the strength of this undeniable initiative. And now he has his own life.
Now we’re doing it locally here. Bringing that necessarily. . . as a way to be able to play, but around the concept of doing something so good. It doesn’t have to be anything in the other aspect of the world. it may be just for someone here. . . it is the basic notion, to give the context and be informed of the tools.
Now I see that this is a component of something called Startups Without Borders, which is a very inclusive global program. There is a program called GoodWall, where it would possibly have perfect compatibility. And then also, there’s something called the Innovation Factory, which is a component of the ITU (United Nations), an open innovation platform for AI forever.
I can see this, also similar to Microsoft’s Imagine Cup (see Forbes on 2022 Imagine Cup Junior and 2022 Imagine Cup). So a number of ideas.
We are, until the last minutes. I inspire the audience to take a look at all the popularity it has received, as this is only a small indication of the breadth of the paintings it is making and the effect it is having. It’s just remarkable, and it’s also important.
(Note on the multitude of recognitions: Professor Ramanujam is recognized worldwide for her contributions to innovation, education and entrepreneurship. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a member of the National Academy of Inventors, and a member of foreign professional societies in her box She has also been invited to speak at the United Nations, as a TEDx speaker, and has been invited to give plenary lectures on her paintings around the world. Professor Ramanujam has won several awards for his remarkable contributions to the field of biomedicine. . Engineering, adding the MIT TRonecien Young Innovator Award, the MIT Global Indus Technovator Award, the Duke Stansell Family Award, the Department of Defense’s Era of Hope Scholar Award. Innovator Award, Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award, IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award, and IEEE Dis Magistral Distinguished Award. The effect of his social inventions has been identified by the Emerging Le ader Consortium of Universities in Global Health in the Global Health Award, the Grace Hopper Foundation’s Social Impact Abie Award and the Duke Wom C Global Impact Award. Your proposal one hundred
And now, for the last question, which covers so many other areas, do you have any recommendations you should give to the public?And that’s the last question.
Do as many things as you can. Divergent thoughts. Don’t judge until you’ve tried. Keep all doors open. And you can land on anything you really love that’s really close to your heart, and then figure out how to do it.
Yes, this is a glorious and glorious recommendation for the public. I am grateful that you have come and done remarkable and exceptional work, and this continues and improves the planet and the ecosystems of the world, and indeed to gain advantages from humanity. Thank you for sharing some of your concepts with our audience today. .
Thank you and I look forward to all those presentations. It’s a thrill to meet you Steve and I enjoyed it. Thank you very much for all the recommendations and recommendations and I am very pleased to continue with them.