Biodesign cultivates community partnerships to broaden understanding of health equity

For more than two decades, the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign has taught aspiring health technology innovators to deliver valuable products to patients. Part of that training is ensuring that all the center's fellows have a better understanding of health equity and that they appreciate the ways new technologies can widen or narrow the gaps in access to care.

The current cohort of fellows -- who are focusing on physical and rehabilitation medicine, pain medicine, and substance use disorders -- have spent time learning from multiple organizations in the Bay Area with long histories of providing care to underserved communities. They include Code Tenderloin, The Arc San Francisco, the Bridge Clinic of Highland Hospital, Glide Harm Reduction and Meal Service, the Syringe Access Collective at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Ada's Café, and Support for Families.

Through the community immersion, Stanford Biodesign hopes to impart a new generation of innovators with the instinct to seek out multiple perspectives and lived realities so they are equipped to develop technologies that are more equitable.

Here is a look at the various engagements the fellows took part in.

Del Seymour, founder of Code Tenderloin, a volunteer-run organization that is working to remove the barriers that keep marginalized people from securing long-term employment, welcomed Stanford Biodesign's fellows to San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. (Antje Kirschner/Stanford Biodesign)

Community immersion helped break down problems that I would have previously thought were not solvable. It was also very impactful and meaningful to spend time with and get to know people in [our] communities."

Marisa Markovich, 2024-25 fellow

Del Seymour and other Tenderloin residents shared with the group the many initiatives ongoing in the community to provide education, green space, and healthcare for residents, as they seek to overcome significant issues faced in the neighborhood including housing costs, substance use, and lack of access to healthcare. (Lyn Denend/Stanford Biodesign)

Outside the Stanford bubble and Palo Alto, there are many issues that students, including myself, have never seen. Recognizing that healthcare is not solely about hospitals was a significant shift in my perception of health and the needs-finding process.

Sowmya Chundi, undergraduate student assistant for Stanford Biodesign Sophomore College course

At The Arc San Francisco, a nonprofit organization that offers continuing education, workforce development, health advocacy, recreation, and more to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the fellows shared dinner with about 20 participants, hearing their life stories and some of the barriers they encounter. Innovation Fellow Shirin Sadri, seated far right, is pictured with participants Darrius, Vernae, Brandon, Jocelyn, Kerry and Gladys, and staff member Grace. (Daniela Rodriguez Martinez/Stanford Biodesign)

I was amazed by how much time and effort went into developing trust between providers and the people they helped -- it was often equally as vital as the medical interventions themselves. I learned that any successful innovation in this space must respect this delicate foundation.

Shirin Sadri, 2024-25 Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow

The fellows were invited to join a session called Friends Like Me, an after-hours program designed to nurture friendship through fun, engaging activities. Policy fellow Charlene Kuo, far right, with participant Laurette and staff member Cynthia. (Daniela Rodriguez Martinez/Stanford Biodesign)

I found community immersion valuable for understanding the location I've moved to, for sparking new questions, for providing a chance to apply a policy lens to unmet needs, for understanding how unmet health needs show up in and outside of health settings. [It was] a chance to reframe my paradigm of what innovation looks like and who my stakeholders are.

Charlene Kuo, 2024-25 Stanford Biodesign Policy Fellow

The fellows spent a morning at Ada's Cafe, a mission-driven café located in Palo Alto that supports adults with disabilities by providing meaningful employment. (Daniela Rodriguez Martinez/Stanford Biodesign)

Learning first-hand from community members about the importance of access and equitable care, and what happens without those things, broadens not only the fellows' clinical perspective but their humanity as well.

Meghan Stawitcke, Fellowships Manager, Stanford Biodesign

Katherine Foley- Hughes, who, inspired by her son Charlie's journey with a developmental disability, created Ada's Café to teach cooking skills and foster independence for students with developmental disabilities, shared with the fellows why employment is such an important part of wellbeing. This is especially true for those who face social isolation as a result of visible and invisible disabilities. The fellows also got to hear about disability benefits and some of the challenges encountered in getting, retaining, and using those benefits. (Daniela Rodriguez Martinez/Stanford Biodesign)

Having a job is a human right and there is a great need for jobs. We believe people deserve to be supported by a community that believes in them as a person and as an employee. Running a food business that has a social mission is a heavy lift, but we are very grateful to those who support us to stay in business.

Kathleen Foley-Hughes

The fellows assembled harm reduction kits and learned about the Hepatitis C programs at the Syringe Access Collective at the San Francisco Aids Foundation and at the Glide Harm Reduction Service. They also shadowed staff at the Bridge Clinic of Highland Hospital and learned about the importance of policy and mitigation strategies in holistically treating substance use disorders. Pictured (left to right): Innovation fellows Samantha Seneca, Austin Sawyer, Sophia Brodsky, Jon Freise, and Joan Vieyra Galí. (Cyan Brown/Stanford Biodesign)

I found this community immersion extremely valuable. Seeing people outside of healthcare settings allows us to better understand why they might end up in the emergency department, how their lives look before and after leaving the hospital. It also allows us to meet people that don't make it to the healthcare system and that are left out, [helping us] empathize with everyone and realize [that] this could also be us or a loved one.

Bingyi Wang, 2024-25 Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow

Some fellows also served as volunteers at Support For Families' "Access to Adventure Day" in San Francisco, helping to coordinate a fun program of inclusive recreation and sport for families with children who have disabilities. Pictured (left to right): Innovation Fellows Shirin Sadri, Jorge Mena, Jens Duru, Samantha Preston. (Krista Donaldson/Stanford Biodesign)

The community immersion allowed us to understand the challenges faced by members of our community with disabilities or substance use [disorders]... we were exposed to needs that likely would have remained hidden from us.

Jens Duru, 2024-25 Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow