Funding Announcement

Invitation for MIT faculty participation

The broad objective of the new MIT-Philips research alliance in HealthTech is to support collaborative research projects that involve both MIT and Philips investigators and that are focused in the company’s core areas of health care technology. The MIT-Philips Research Awards for Clinicians Program is designed to recruit frontline clinicians - physicians, pharmacists, nurses, respiratory and other therapists - to engage in collaborative research with MIT and Philips investigators. The program will provide an opportunity for clinical professionals to conduct original research in collaboration with experienced MIT and Philips Research investigators. It is intended to further engage the clinical community with the MIT-Philips collaboration and to accelerate the discovery of new ideas with high translational potential. Intellectual property policies applicable to work done under this award program are defined in the MIT-Philips Master Research Agreement.

The program will provide to clinicians:

  1. An opportunity to build collaborative relationships with MIT faculty and Philips Research investigators.
  2. Salary support of $50,000 (plus associated MIT indirect costs) to cover 50% of the clinician’s time for research.
  3. The opportunity to advance great ideas from the clinical setting to the research development laboratories of two world renowned centers of discovery.

The program will provide to MIT faculty members:

  1. A funded part-time clinician to collaborate on a research project of mutual interest that falls within the broad scope of PRNA’s programs.
  2. An opportunity to collaborate with a researcher at Philips Research of North America, including the possibility of developing follow-on joint proposals for funding under the MIT-Philips Research Alliance.

Purpose:

Interest in health innovation and healthcare quality improvement has steadily increased. Recent reports have highlighted shortfalls in measurable improvement in clinical outcomes despite the technical innovations in healthcare. Efforts to improve health with engineering breakthroughs, while well intentioned, have fallen short in several areas. These technological innovations have tended to be developed as isolated solutions rather than tools integrated within larger programs of improvement and without a deep involvement of those who understand the complexities of day-to-day care delivery. To outsiders, these innovations are appealing, but when developed without the continuous input from those who will adopt them, they often produce inconsequential or short-lived impact that falls far short of their potential to contribute to improved health.

Clinicians at the frontline of care should be at the core of efforts to revolutionize healthcare through technology, fully supported by scientists and engineers to identify gaps in diagnostics and therapeutics and to develop solutions that truly improve outcomes. A system that germinates innovation should foster a collaborative culture in which clinicians and engineers work and learn together in a mutually supportive environment where cross-specialty communication is not only possible but intrinsic and continuous.

MIT-Philips Clinical Research awards will be extended to three individuals in 2023. The award will allow the awardee to spend 50% of his/her time at MIT and Philips Research North America (PRNA). Applicants must be active clinicians (including those in training such as residents and fellows). Awardees will be given MIT appointments as part-time visiting scientists, and comparable PRNA appointments. The awardees will be expected to attend regular MIT-PRNA collaboration meetings. Continuation of clinical work is expected for the other 50% of awardee’s time under an agreement with the awardee’s clinical department. The award is renewable for an additional year based on merit and the permission of the awardee’s clinical department.