DtM Designer Will Harris profiled in the All Nighter

"Will Harris (BFA ID ’10) hasn’t wasted much time since graduating RISD over a year and a half ago. Already, he’s designed and helped launch Firefly – a medical product at Design that Matters (DtM) that uses phototherapy to treat neonatal jaundice in Southeast Asia, where the disease affects a disproportionately high number of infants."

He has been actively incorporating knowledge of manufacturing into his work while working in a collaborative environment with people from entirely different backgrounds.

Harris stresses how important it is to know how to communicate with non-designers. “A lot of times in advanced studios, people are working on their own or working in a two-person group with another designer. And to really have a sense of what it’s going to be like in the world once you’re working at a studio, you need to work with engineers, business people, to understand their mindsets,” he says.

Because Harris works at such a small company, he is often given responsibilities and opportunities he would not otherwise be able to have.

Harris has traveled to Vietnam twice while working with DtM, helping them with field research and more recently, clinical trials, which began December 5th at the National OBGYN Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. He says, “Being able to go to Vietnam and see the response and see how excited people were – I think just made everything worthwhile.”"

"Doctors and nurses have already remarked at how intuitive the product is. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Ha, NiCU Director at National OBGYN Hospital, says, “Firefly provides very good access to the infant for bottle feeding, diaper changes, and even blood tests. We performed blood tests on each of the four infants treated so far without removing them from Firefly.” It has also allowed mothers to sleep next to their infants and supervise them throughout the treatment.

Though Harris understands form and function, it is clear that he is passionate about what Firefly really means to people.

“I think there’s a really strong power of having good aesthetics in any kind of device and really making people feel comfortable, but [I’m] really trying to work on just making a device that’s going to help someone and do something positive for the world,” he says."

- Michelle Chen, Spotlight: Will Harris, The All Nighter, 19Jan2012

Learn more about Project Firefly

Firefly featured in Fast Company

In response to the growing conversation about the role of non-profit design in the developing world, Fast Company has written an intriguing article which profiles DtM's philosophy and projects.

"In 2001, Tim Prestero quit his PhD program at MIT, and founded Design That Matters, a nonprofit that started as a class project. The ultimate objective of this almost all-volunteer organization is to aid the poor through product development. As an institution, it is specifically founded on nonprofit ideals, or as Prestero puts it, “I like the [nonprofit status] because it's a kind of discipline. I like the fact that, like Odysseus, we can chain ourselves to the mast. Google’s commitment to don’t be evil isn’t enforced by any outside body. Our commitment to don’t be evil is actually written in law.”

"Consider what's happening at Design That Matters. The organization is putting its latest product, the Firefly, a device to cure jaundice in newborn babies, into clinical trial. Barring any catastrophes, it will then go to a pilot program in Vietnam this coming April. After the pilot program, there are two possible pathways this product will take to reach its market. The first, and more traditional, is that the Firefly will be made by a local Vietnamese manufacturer, Medical Technology Transfer and Services, and then distributed by the East Meets West Foundation, a nonprofit."

"You might call the second possible pathway a quasi-capitalist model. And it might offer vastly larger scale: the East Meets West Foundation could instead sign a partnership with a major multi-national that currently cranks out an incubator every 30 minutes. That company would then produce and distribute the Firefly through their for-profit emerging markets medical arm. Why would they care? After all, as Prestero says, “their next 400 million customers aren’t coming from the United States, they’re coming from emerging markets.”

The development of the Firefly, which looks like a simple incubator, actually took 10 years to perfect. It's no surprise that the model for getting it out into the world will require just as much care and boldness."

- Shoham Arad, Do Designers Actually Exploit The Poor While Trying To Do Good? Jan Chipchase Responds, Fast Co Design, 04Jan2012

Learn more about Project Firefly

Yanko Design Features Firefly Phototherapy

"The Firefly is the first low-cost phototherapy device trusted by Southeast Asian clinicians to be used for treating newborn jaundice in the same room with mothers in rural hospitals, optimizing the cycle of phototherapy and feeding for rapid and effective treatment.

Its combination top & bottom phototherapy, table-top size, easily cleanable bassinet, intuitiveness, and high-tech aesthetic make it an ideal (and affordable) device for low-resource, remote settings like Vietnam and Southeast Asia."

- Troy Turner, Modern Phototherapy for Newborns, Yanko Design, 17Jan2012

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Design Buzz discusses Firefly Phototherapy

"Phototherapy is not something radical and new. But the traditional method of treatment involved treating the baby to 5 hours of phototherapy after which a nurse carried the baby from NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) to the mother for breast-feeding. An hour or so later, the baby was again carried by the nurse to the NICU for five more hours of phototherapy. This cycle repeated. Nurses were also needed to check on the orientation of the baby so that it always received maximum exposure to the light. This increased the overhead expenses per baby in the rural hospitals and medical centers in poor countries."

"Firefly was first introduced to treat jaundiced newborns in Vietnam. It arrives as a single-piece, removable, vacuum-formed bassinet which has its own blue-light source. The light source has been provided above and below that ensures that the newborn receives maximum and effective phototherapy regardless of its orientation. The device is so compact and robust that the doctors have no fears of installing it in the mother's room itself. Thus, the transfer of the infant between the NICU and the mother is reduced. This in turn drastically increases the effectiveness of the treatment. Now, all that the mother has to do is feed the baby, which is by her side, at regular intervals. The periods of non-light are also reduced."

- Nikonian Bar, Firefly: Constant and instant phototherapy for infants, Design Buzz, 20Jan2012

Learn more about Project Firefly

risd-id.org profiles Project Firefly

"Back in February of 2011, Will Harris BFA ID ’10 told us about some of the initial design reviews of Firefly, a project that started in his Advanced Studio Course, Product Design and Development, in the Industrial Design Department at RISD. He contacted us again recently to tell us more about the progress of Firefly and how it is being received in Vietnam.

On December fifth, Firefly Phototherapy began clinical trials in Vietnam and went on the market as a method for treating infants who suffer from jaundice. Harris just returned from a one month trip in Hanoi, setting up and observing the trial, and was happy to tell us that Firefly is being embraced by both doctors and parents, as well as treating infants in about thirty percent of the time as it takes other existing devices in their hospitals. As he told us, “It is a true testament to the care that RISD instills in its graduates when approaching any design problem.”"

- Carly Ayres, Will Harris | Firefly, RISD ID Blog, 19Jan2012

Learn more about Project Firefly

CoLab Radio highlights Firefly Phototherapy

Recently DtM Director of Product Development, Elizabeth Johansen, wrote an interesting article about her work on project Firefly, and how it has contrasted with working on medical devices for the US Market.

"Access to quality medical care is not universal, even in a first world country. I have firsthand experience with the broken medical system in the U.S. My mother has lived in a nursing home for the past six years under the auspices of Medicare and Medicaid services. Each day, we are prevented from accessing high-quality doctors. There are a maze of exclusions from receiving well-designed medications, devices, and equipment beyond the reach of my mother’s insurance providers.

The Kwikpen I helped to design is available only by prescription. It is not covered by many health insurance plans. In fact, it is incredibly costly to pay out-of-pocket due to the painstaking Research & Development effort required to create a new medical device in a litigious society.

Now consider DtM’s Project Firefly where we ask: How might we create intuitive and affordable products that help provide accessible, quality medical care for those who have very little?"

"Project Firefly is a joint effort between DtM, East Meets West Foundation (EMW), and Vietnamese manufacturer Medical Technology Transfer and Services (MTTS) to design an easy-to-use infant phototherapy device to cure neonatal jaundice in rural district hospitals across Southeast Asia.

Our collaborative team of Boston-based designers and Vietnamese doctors has begun to answer these tough questions. DtM just returned from a trip to Vietnam kicking off a one-month clinical trial for Project Firefly. For me, the experience was an eye-opening and inspiring lesson in collaboration, trust, and spontaneity given my own American, Food and Drug Administration-laden notions of risk."

- Elizabeth Johansen, Creating a Phototherapy Device for Babies in Vietnam, CoLab Radio, 05Jan2012

Learn more about Project Firefly

Tour Vietnam District Hospitals

Get a first hand look at some of the Hospitals that DtM visited during the December 2011 field study.

The Ninh Giang District Hospital NICU taken December 2011.

Take a look at more hospitals that DtM has visited.

Project Postcard: Many Thanks

We would like to thank the highly skilled, agile Design that Matters extended engineering team who transformed Firefly from concept into reality. During 2011 the DtM team created an optical layout to efficiently direct light into the infant bed, a thermal management system to keep heat away from the infant, a robust frame and enclosure, and an intuitive one-button interaction design. We could not have produced the design we have today without the technical skills, commitment, heart, and donated time from each of these organizations.

/ Lincoln Design Solutions
/ Boston Design Solutions
/ Excellus Engineering
/ Optics for Hire
/ Actinica
/ Project Advisors from Cooper Perkins, IDEO, and MIT

Until Next Time,
Tim, Elizabeth & Will

Read more about DtM's phototherapy project, Firefly

Firefly Clinical Trial Initial Feedback

It has been almost two weeks since the Firefly clinical trials began, and we are receiving great feedback from doctors, nurses, and mothers. Below is a PDF with a few photos from the field, with user quotes.

Read more about the Firefly clinical trial

Firefly Phototherapy Treats First Infant

On December 9, 2011, Firefly officially cured its first case of infant jaundice, restoring severely jaundiced Le Bao Chan. His was cured in only 17 hours using Firefly, which doctors predicted would have taken 2-3 days with a standard overhead phototherapy device. The feedback from doctors and nurses has been overwhelmingly positive, below are a few of the feedback we have received:

“This is very easy to use: you put the baby inside and turn it on! You don’t need to adjust the height of the light which makes it better than an overhead.”

- Dr. Nguyễn Thanh Hả, Director, National OBGYN Hospital

“The overhead phototherapy systems are tall, so you can’t clean on top of it or even see if they are dirty. Bugs can get inside the overhead units. Firefly is very small and easy
to clean.”

- Dr. Nguyễn Thanh Hả, Director, National OBGYN Hospital

"The Firefly has very good light intensity for what we need - there is a top and a bottom light and it is very intense. Where other machines might take 3 days, this should take no longer than 24 hours.”

- Dr. Khuất Than Bình, Vice Director, Moc Chau District Hospital

Read more about DtM's phototherapy project, Firefly