UNMC has launched a new Design Hub aimed at fostering creativity, innovation and problem-solving among students, faculty and staff.
The new facility, located on Level 6 of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library, is designed to promote collaboration across disciplines in health care and medical research, encouraging users to tackle complex challenges with a fresh perspective.
An in-person open house for the University of Nebraska community will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 18, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Level 6 in the McGoogan Library. Visitors can join UNMC design thinking coaches and library staff for a tour, snacks and demos.
For those who cannot attend in person, a virtual open house will be held from 1-2 p.m. via Zoom that day, as well. Register to receive the Zoom link.
Both in-person and virtual attendees will have a chance to win one of four “creative mindset” door prizes. (See image.)
“The Design Hub represents a new frontier in how we approach solving problems in health care,” UNMC Interim Chancellor Dele Davies, MD, said. “By equipping our community with the tools and environment needed for design thinking, we hope to inspire breakthrough solutions that will improve individual and system performance and transform lives.”
The Design Hub features flexible workspaces, prototyping tools and supplies, and interactive digital platforms that allow for brainstorming and rapid development of solutions. The hub is envisioned as collaboration space for interdisciplinary projects, where medical professionals, students and researchers can come together with designers and engineers to improve patient care, health care delivery and medical education.
The space is available to be used independently by individuals or small groups or with a trained design thinking facilitator. Guides and templates for design thinking activities are available and can be used as part of a larger project or simply to explore new solutions and points of view. The UNMC community can use the Design Hub anytime the room is free or by reservation via the library website.
The Design Hub is funded in part by an NU Collaboration Initiative Grant awarded for 2023-25. Led by Tyler Scherr, PhD, of UNeMed, the NU Health x Design grant team includes faculty and staff from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and UNMC. Planning and development of the Design Hub was led by UNMC faculty and staff:
- Emily Glenn, dean of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library
- Brian Maass, McGoogan Health Sciences Library
- Katherine Bravo, PhD, UNMC College of Nursing
- T.J. Welniak, MD, UNMC College of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine
- Bethany Lownes, PhD, UNMC College of Medicine, Department of Neurological Sciences
- Luther Mardock, UNMC Academic Affairs
Since receiving funding in 2023, the NU Health x Design team has planned and facilitated design thinking sprints with interprofessional teams of students from the UNL College of Engineering, UNO Biomechanics Lab and UNMC.
The design teams have worked on real-world clinical issues presented by UNMC faculty and staff, including John Windle, UNMC, Center for Intelligent Health Care, and Jason Johanning, MD, UNMC College of Medicine, Department of Vascular Surgery. One solution, a treadmill-based device developed by students for post-surgical ambulation for vascular surgery patients, has been prototyped by the UNO Sports Medicine and Biomechanics Research Lab and is part of a customer discovery project for NSF’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps).