PhD student at the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Healthcare has been accepted onto the 2020 MedTech Accelerator Programme.

Reneira Seeamber, PhD student at the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Healthcare at Imperial College, has been accepted on to the 2020 MedTech SuperConnector (MTSC) Accelerator Programme. Being part of this entrepreneurial training programme is a prestigious opportunity, which will support Reneira in translating her research idea into a real-world solution for the benefit of patient wellbeing.

This year’s MTSC challenge offered in partnership with GSK Consumer Healthcare Next and Beyond is all about the ‘Future of Pain’. Pain is recognised as one of the most common health conditions that patients seek medical treatment for, and yet pain is difficult to measure and deeply personal, with causes and treatments not well understood. The programme is looking for technologies that innovate in this space by offering novel solutions, which could address the future of pain in a variety of ways, for example helping clinicians, researchers and patients to understand, monitor, prevent or treat it.

Reneira's idea and novel wearable technology will help guide exercises for chronic lower back pain.

Reneira explains why she applied and wanted to be part of the MTSC programme: “The MTSC programme will help me develop the skills needed to translate the sensor technology I am working on during my PhD, into a commercial product suited for the general population. While my PhD focuses on technical development and clinical validation, this programme will broaden my expertise into commercial and regulatory aspects of medical technologies, as well as business management more generally. It will be particularly important to learn about how to target the right audience, create a detailed business plan with the marketing logistics outlines, and create a commercial garment that will appeal to the customer base. I also hope to start developing an app interface that would link to the sensor system, which again, a lot of consumer insight would be key in creating the perfect platform that is easy and fun to use.”