Wild West of 3 Dimensions - How 3D Printing is Changing the World of Pediatric Medicine

A complex open heart surgery is an undertaking full of inherent risks, during which many things hang in the balance. But, what if some of that unforeseen risk could be mitigated?  What if the surgeon could hold your heart in their hands, study every detail, visualize every structure, even practice their operation on your heart before they ever made an actual cut, or even entered the operating room?  What if?

Recent state-of-the-art developments in 3D imaging and 3D printing have been making this a reality in many hospitals, and have been changing the world of pediatric medicine - especially for children with congenital heart disease.

From realistic, patient-specific heart models used in surgery planning and patient education, to medical devices specific to the smallest babies - this incredibly flexible and affordable technology has the potential to innovate care for many of the smallest patients and their families. At the same time, like many emerging technologies, the laws and regulations that govern 3D printing in the medical space have been outpaced by the speed of innovation. Dr. Justin Ryan of the Helen & Will Webster Foundation 3D Innovation Lab at Rady Children's Hospital, in San Diego, CA says that sometimes this phenomenon makes working in this field feel a little bit like the "Wild West." However, he and others are actively helping to bring guidelines up to speed in order to make this technology as safe as it can be, while also leveraging that same flexibility in order to maximize his creativity in finding solutions for the hospital's patients. When it comes to that creativity, Dr. Ryan also draws upon his background as a classically trained artist, and surprisingly, he sees many similarities between his work as a biomedical engineer and the artistic process. Join me as we talk with the team from the 3D Innovation Print Lab, and explore this exciting and rapidly growing technology and its increasingly significant impact on the world of medicine.

EPISODE GUESTS

Dr. Justin Ryan – Dr. Ryan is a research scientist and Director of the Helen & Will Webster Foundation 3D Innovations Lab at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, CA. With a background both in art and biomedical engineering, Dr. Ryan brings a unique skill set to his work with the 3D Innovations Lab.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde - Dr. Hegde is a pediatric cardiologist, research scientist, and the Director of Research at the Heart Institute at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, CA. He was a founding member of the 3D Innovations Lab, and helped pioneer Rady Children's Hospital's first 3D printing program.

Kathryn Matthews - Kathryn is a parent of a child with complex congenital heart disease (CHD), and she is an active CHD advocate through her work and leadership with a family advisory council at her local children's hospital. Her advocacy, and courage to ask her medical team for what she thought her child needed, were a major catalyst in the integration of 3D printing into the medical care at Rady Children's Hospital.

SUPPORT

Please consider supporting the important and innovative work of the Helen & Will Webster Foundation 3D Innovations Lab - you can find more information about how to do that HERE.

*Episode Note - since initially producing this episode, the roles/titles of both Dr. Ryan and Dr. Hegde have changed. As a result, there is some discrepancy between their guest bios and how they are introduced in the episode. The titles included on this page are the most current.

Also, the audio clip at 1:46 is Frank Muller performing the opening lines from "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.

Transcript

Derren Raser  0:04  
Life and death. During a complex open heart surgery, the difference between the two can sometimes be the result of whether or not a surgeon is able to anticipate and respond to any unforeseen complications. It is an undertaking full of inherent risks, during which many things hang in the balance. But, what if some of that unforeseen risk could be mitigated? What if a surgeon could hold your heart in their hands, study every detail, visualized every structure, even practice their operation on your heart before they ever made an actual cut, or even entered the operating room? What if? This may sound like fantasy, but it's an emerging reality in many hospitals, thanks to state-of-the-art developments in 3D imaging and 3D printing. When you hear the words "3D printing," you may think of stories in the news about its ability to replicate everything from bike helmets to trendy sneakers, and even more controversial items like an undetectable gun. But, the thing that makes 3D printing so remarkable is that it is both an incredibly flexible technology that is also relatively affordable. And some researchers are realizing the vast potential for this technology to revolutionize the medical field, and pediatrics in particular. Today, on One Rare Heart, we'll meet some of those researchers, as we speak with a team from the 3D Innovations Print Lab at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, California. Coming up in just a few heartbeats. Don't go away.

Derren Raser  1:37  
Bear with me for a moment and let us enter our mind's eye for a short trip through time, as we peer all the way back to the year 1981.

Shakespearian Actor  1:45  
"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times."

Derren Raser  1:50  
Well, not really. But, actually it was a year of a lot of firsts. It was Ronald Reagan's first year in office, and after he was shot and recovered, he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. The NASA Space Shuttle took its very first flight. MTV came into existence and aired its first music video ever, which in case you're wondering was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. Both Donkey Kong and Mario made their debuts. And, well, I probably should have mentioned this first - it was the year that my wife Lisa and I caught our first glimpse of the world outside of the womb. On a more serious note, the first cases of AIDS were also recorded. And in the midst of all of this, believe it or not, at a small industrial research institute in Nagoya, Japan, three dimensional printing was born. You're probably saying, "Wait! almost 40 years ago!? But I thought that this was an emergent technology now. . ." And you wouldn't be wrong. It is coming into its own in this era. But, discoveries made in the 1980's laid the groundwork for much of the 3D printing technology that is still being used today. But before we add in the technology, let's first lay the foundation of our story with someone who's helping innovate the way that this technology is used, and who came about this technological medium in a very interesting way.

Dr. Justin Ryan  3:19  
Back in high school, I wanted to be an animator.

Derren Raser  3:23  
This is Justin Ryan, PhD, research scientist and director of the 3D Innovations Print Lab at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, California.

Dr. Justin Ryan  3:32  
Similar to Pixar type animations, 3D animation for the purpose of entertainment. I ended up going to Arizona State University. At that time, it was led by a former Disney animator and I thought what a great opportunity. The very first semester I get there, he retired, so I never even had a chance to meet him and the program there started to undergo quite a bit of change. So they still had digital art classes, 3D animation classes, but they really focused on the artists to be a fine arts artist. So everything from charcoal to oil painting  to performance art, fibers - you really got this well rounded foundation. And I did all those classes and it was a great learning experience. My very last semester I took a 3D printing course, and a medical biomedical professor came in that class and talked to it. And I thought it was interesting what he was talking about wanting to do with 3D printing and 3D visualization. And I emailed them afterwards. And that was Dr. David Frakes, who ended up becoming my mentor. There was just this very unique process - combining arts and engineering for this biomedical purpose - and that just kind of clicked. So, Dr. David Frakes offered for me to continue my education in his lab and further prove out more opportunities for 3D modeling and 3D printing. Were really one of the first to do this. That's what led to my early work with the 3D printed heart models had more and more opportunities once we got embedded into the hospital to figure out where 3D printing and 3D technologies the whole fit into the medical space.

Derren Raser  5:14  
The uniqueness of his cutting-edge experience and skill set made him an attractive target for Rady Children's Hospital, whose Chief of Cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. John Nigro, recognize the potential and importance of integrating this emerging technology into the hospital surgical care. Justin Ryan's arrival, signaled a new chapter in three dimensional printing at Rady Children's, but the impetus for the formation of the Innovations Print Lab actually lies in an event a few years earlier, and was something that is at the root of so many good things - an act of advocacy by a parent. This is Kathryn Matthews, whose courage to make a simple request of her son's doctor's yielded huge dividends not only for her family, but also for their hospital community as a whole. Here's her story:

Kathryn Matthews  6:03  
It was before his Fontanne surgery. And because he has not only double inlet left ventricle, which is not that rare for CHD's, he also has dextrocardia. And so lots of the things that were in his heart were in the wrong spot. And Dr. Lomberti at the time, had said that his Fontanne was going to be a little bit more complicated. And of course, as a parent that sends up red flags. So I did some research just to see what I could find out and found that a doctor at Children's in LA had recently done a 3D printout of a heart for a complicated heart surgery, and had said that it helped him prepare for the surgery because he was able to cut open the heart and see where he was going to place things. And I thought, well, that sounds like it'd be great for Lincoln, you know, why don't I ask? I knew that I was talking to Dr. Lamberti, who had been working at Rady for over 30 years plus, you know, as a heart surgeon and had probably seen everything and was gonna say, "hey, whatever, I can do this in my sleep." But, I went to talk to him and I gave him information. And so he went to Dr. Hegde.

Derren Raser  7:12  
This is Dr. Sanjeet Hegde, a pediatric cardiologist and research scientist at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, California. He is also the program director for the 3D Innovations Print Lab, and he remembers this very first case well.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  7:25  
When it came to the third procedure, you know, the way the child's heart, you know, lay the chest wall, within the within the chest cavity, and the complexity the heart, meant that even a well-known procedure for a similar heart condition was even more complicated in this young child.

Derren Raser  7:44  
Something that stands out about this story is Dr. Lamberti's family-oriented approach. And it really comes through in what he shared with Kathryn Matthews.

Kathryn Matthews  7:52  
"When a parent asks me for something, I've learned through all the years I've been working, that I always have to do it if I can. So, can you please make this happen?" - which I thought was pretty amazing!

Derren Raser  8:01  
Dr. Lamberti knew that he wanted to help make Kathryn Matthews' request a reality. But at that time, the hospital did not yet have the capability to do any 3D printing on their own. And finding someone to print a three dimensional heart wasn't as easy as you may think. But Dr. Hegde began his search nonetheless.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  8:18  
And then I found a 3D printing company about three miles down the road. And I ended approached him an d I said, "you know, I wanted to print a heart." And he said, "well, you know, I haven't printed anything that was like anatomy related."

Derren Raser  8:32  
While the man with a 3D printer had never printed a heart, he had once been hired by a lawyer to print a human skull for a deposition.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  8:39  
And when I looked at the skull, I realized that the definition of the skull, in terms of even like the kind of bones in the skull, was very well defined, even like the thinnest structure. So then I realized that he had the ability to print it, but he just hadn't explored it.

Derren Raser  8:53  
Dr. Hegde also discovered that this man had worked on some top secret design parts for an up-and-coming electric carmaker.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  9:00  
He at that time was also printing design parts for Tesla. So, he had a folder on his computer which said Tesla, and so engineers would send him the CAD designs, and he would print them replicas of whatever they wanted, and they would redesign it and make sure it works.

Derren Raser  9:14  
While not related to heart models, I have to say that printing secret design components for Tesla is pretty awesome - but, it's not the crux of the story. What makes this story so important is the fact that a surgeon was able to hold a patient-specific model in their hands. Not just a generic heart, but a detailed, realistic, nuanced representation of an actual patient's heart. In Kathryn Matthews' experience, having a patient-specific model of her son's heart was helpful in that particular situation. But, are these models helpful to surgeons in general, and how? I put that question to Dr.'s Ryan and Hegde.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  9:54  
When you're trying to explain something that has a three dimensional feel to it, sometimes even visualizing on a screen doesn't give you the true pictures. You know, just like they say a picture's worth more than 1000 words, a model in your hand is worth even more. Sometimes it's helpful to ensure that you are able to make a surgery the best that you can offer to that child, so that they don't have all the attendant complications from being surprised about the heart anatomy when opening the chest. I think it brings a new dimension where you can actually do a lot of the practice runs in a model that's an exact replica of the patient's heart. It's not that you're using a generic model that somebody's provided, like the medical device industry, but it's actually a patient-specific procedure planning.

Derren Raser  10:39  
Imagine with me for a moment that your son or daughter is scheduled for a complex open heart surgery. Hearing Dr. Hegde speak, I'm sure you can feel the magnitude of the reassurance you might feel if your surgeon was able to practice, and perfect the surgery on an exact replica of your child's heart as many times as needed prior to even stepping foot in the operating room. This is the power of patient-specificity. And it's a power that Justin Ryan helps surgeons unlock from the context of his 3D lab.

Dr. Justin Ryan  11:09  
Addressing those patients-specific geometries is what a surgeon does on a day by day basis. They go into a heart and they either try to make it look developmentally typical, and that look has impact on its function. Or, they try to specifically control the function so that the rest of the body receives the oxygen and nutrients that needs via the blood. So, I provide models, allow them to know where is the hole inside the heart, how big is it, what's its relationship to the major blood vessels that are going to and leading away from the heart. That's what our models do - they give a patient-specific roadmap to our surgeons who are then going to do surgery.

Derren Raser  11:50  
This patient-specific factor is key to the importance and utility of these models. And ongoing innovations in printing materials has also added to the functionality and realism of these models. For instance, the technology is not far off that will allow biomedical engineers to create materials that will simulate the flexible, pliant feel of an organ, like a brain, (ew!), or even a heart.

Dr. Justin Ryan  12:15  
If we want to print a heart that feels like a heart, or print a brain that feels like a brain, there are going to be opportunities in the very near future to do that.

Derren Raser  12:22  
These realistic models not only provided advantages to surgeons in procedure planning, but can also play an important role in family and patient education as well.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  12:32  
Parents feel very grateful when they're able to hold a replica of their child's heart in the hands that allows them to appreciate the complexity of the heart.

Derren Raser  12:41  
And the ability of a family to hold their own child's heart in their hands, study the anatomy up close, and discuss it with their child's physician is invaluable. And it also expands the ways in which families can interact with their child's heart defect, understand its complexity and consider surgical options. The 3D Innovations Print Lab is also spearheading a project that makes an interactive web portal available to families.

Dr. Justin Ryan  13:05  
Then as we proved this technology out, we want to move it into a patient-specific domain where it is a patient-specific portal that you're looking at your own child's, or in the case that you're old enough, your own anatomy to try to educate yourself.

Derren Raser  13:18  
This virtual model is assembled using the same 3D imaging captured and used to create the physical models, bringing even more value and uses to the information gathered in the printing process. This virtual component to parent and patient education also allows families to learn and explore at their own pace, which is important.

Derren Raser  13:36  
And as the efficacy of these models has been further proven out, in the cardiac realm in particular, a growing number of specialties at the hospital are realizing the potential for 3D printing in their own fields. As a result, Justin Ryan is being asked to create more, and more varied models, and the scope of his creations is rapidly expanding.

Dr. Justin Ryan  14:04  
So, we want to 3D print where we're going to have the highest impact and help the most patients. Our technology is well suited for some of the more complex structures, especially if we look at spinal deformities. Airways is rapidly expanding - we are producing quite a few different airway models for more complex patients to allow our surgeons to plan more complex procedures with those. As the hospital expands, you know, I think neurosurgery and plastics are well suited for this domain as well.

Derren Raser  14:35  
The scope of Dr. Ryan's problem solving ability is so wide that sometimes he's approached with requests from some unexpected places.

Dr. Justin Ryan  14:44  
Even the non-medical aspects of this hospital. So, if we think about environmental services or security, they're even reaching out to us for for some projects. So, while it might not be patient-specific or starting a medical image, they do have an idea that's either gonna help their work flow or help with patient safety. And we're working with them on device solution creation, utilizing 3D printing.

Derren Raser  15:08  
One thing you might not know about pediatrics is that in some ways it lives in the shadow of adult medicine, especially when it comes to one thing in particula- hand-me-downs. Many children, especially those who are siblings, get the distinct opportunity to wear clothing and accessories that are already broken in and that were never really intended for them. These clothes, of course, more often than not end up working just fine. But, sometimes they come with quirks, like being slightly too roomy, or having someone else's name embroidered on the waistband. Or, maybe the style is just a little out of date, or perhaps there's a lot of mixing and matching that has to happen to pull together a complete ensemble. Well, in pediatrics, this phenomenon isn't unique to onesies and toddler pants. When it comes to medical devices, pediatric specialists often have to make do with hand-me-downs from the world of adult medicine.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  15:59  
When an adult cardiologist says "I want a particular device," the industry sort of immediately steps in because they have a big market. Say a stent is used in the blood vessel in the leg for a vascular problem that's widespread in the adult world. That same stent could go in a child's heart in a blood vessel that goes into a lung, for example. A lot of the technology that has been handed down to the pediatric world is being used in adult world for some other applications.

Derren Raser  16:28  
The fact that pediatric specialists and surgeons have to rely upon repurposed parts and materials that have not been specifically designed for the children they are serving seems quirky at best, and problematic at worst. But, why would this be? Part of the problem lies in the fact that pediatrics occupies a much smaller share of the medical market than adult medicine. And, as a result, manufacturing pediatric-specific devices is not as profitable. Unfortunately, this means that many companies are not willing to take the financial risk of researching and developing these products.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  17:02  
In the pediatric world, you know, a lot of the kind of technology and even devices, there's really not a market.

Derren Raser  17:09  
At the same time, it seems logical that when working with very small bodies that have their own unique challenges and physiologic needs, that device's specific to this important and vulnerable population would be necessary and ideal.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  17:23  
And I think we kind of want to advocate for us being able to have a range of stents that would go into to the smallest baby.

Derren Raser  17:30  
The conflicting junction of these two realities creates a problem. And it's one that often requires creative solutions.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  17:39  
If you don't have something, and you know what it looks like, there is a way to sort of re-engineer it.

Derren Raser  17:44  
Right in the middle of this dearth of child-specific medical materials and devices is where Dr. Justin Ryan often steps in. With his ability in the print lab to essentially create something out of nothing, he has a unique flexibility to be able to look at a problem or need, and then create a three dimensional solution that is specific to that need.

Dr. Justin Ryan  18:03  
They come to me with a challenge that they're having. And they recognize that they have this challenge in front of them. They know approximately what they want, but they don't necessarily know how to go from point A to point Z. And I kind of walk them through the process of ideation, refinement of idea, going through a prototyping phase and kind of proving it out. So, we have to be very creative in our solutions for that.

Derren Raser  18:28  
This ability to create pediatric and even patient-specific devices is revolutionizing the way that hospitals are able to care for and accommodate their unique populations of pediatric patients. In a strange twist, even the 3D printing machinery that the lab is using to create these new devices has been repurposed in some way as well.

Dr. Justin Ryan  18:48  
This might be an urban legend, but what I was told is that the that resin based printer that we produced was largely used for advertising and marketing. And the size and shape of the build volume was specific to creating size 10 shoes.

Derren Raser  19:04  
This type of resourceful innovation is really what's at the heart of 3D printing, especially in the medical space, which means that uses for this technology are rapidly changing. And as is the case with many emerging technologies, the speed at which a new technology develops often outpaces the regulations and laws that are put in place to govern that technology and its safety. This is true with 3D printing. This lack of regulations has both benefits and drawbacks. One benefit that Justin Ryan sees is that it offers plenty of room for creativity and creates flexibility to explore myriad applications for this technology. In some ways he says it feels like striking out into a new frontier.

Dr. Justin Ryan  19:50  
Sometimes we like to use the term Wild West.

Derren Raser  19:53  
On the other hand, Dr. Hegde says that one downside is that protocol for safety in printed devices has not been well defined, and in the medical space, as you can imagine, safety is of the utmost importance.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  20:05  
Safety is paramount when you're trying to develop something that may be interacting with a patient in some way or something that the patient has implanted within them, or stays in the body for even short periods of time.

Dr. Justin Ryan  20:16  
We don't have guidelines tell us when 3D printing is appropriate right now. We don't have specifications for what should or should not happen with 3D printing inside hospitals. Someone has to make those rules and make sure that that is happening in a safe and effective manner.

Derren Raser  20:33  
But just as Justin Ryan is at the forefront of integrating this technology into the medical space, he is also at the forefront of helping regulators develop policies that are in line with the unique capabilities of 3D printing,

Dr. Justin Ryan  20:45  
More and more medical devices themselves are being 3D printed. So, how do we know we're doing this safely? We're all in the situation where we're 3d printing, we believe we're doing it effectively and safely, but we know at some point in time there's going to be a 3D print somewhere in the global community that that might have led a doctor astray or somehow harmed a patient. And we want to learn from that. You know, to their credit, the FDA has been a fantastic resource for all of us. A lot of us went over to D.C. to discuss 3D printing and what regulations should be out there to better support all of us.

Derren Raser  21:22  
While Justin Ryan is addressing safety and efficacy concerns, there's still another barrier to his labs progression, and that is funding. 3D printing labs at hospitals are still in the process of discerning a viable revenue model, which means they're not yet sure where the money they need to operate consistently will come from. One part of this question revolves around how to demonstrate that their technology is either saving or making the hospital money. The potential for creating new pediatric specific devices is enormous. And so is the potential for these creations to generate revenue for the hospital.

Dr. Sanjeet Hegde  21:58  
You know, maybe some of the reengineering will lead to sort of unique IP, like intellectual property for the hospital itself. That could be a source of revenue for the hospital that could benefit that area of pediatric orphan device.

Derren Raser  22:11  
The way that this could work is that any new discoveries or devices created through the 3D Print Lab could then be patented by Rady Children's Hospital and licensed out for a fee. This type of licensing of proprietary technology already generates enormous amounts of money for research institutions like universities and big pharmaceutical companies. And while the team at the 3D Innovations Print Lab are hopeful that this type of revenue will eventually take off, they are still currently dependent upon philanthropic gifts and donations from grateful families in the community, and people like you.

Derren Raser  22:58  
One of the first things you notice when you walk through the door of Dr. Ryan's office is the diverse collection of three dimensional models arrayed on his windowsill. At first glance, this might seem like a rather macobre and esoteric collection, in the vein of the curators of oddities of old. But, the more you look, the more you realize the unique beauty of these objects. The human body has long been celebrated in art and culture for the beauty of its exterior form. But strangely, viewing these models of the organ, vasculature, neural and bone structures of the body, I was struck by the beauty and intricacy of the interior form of our bodies as well. Like a gallery of classical Greek sculptures, Dr. Ryan's windowsill is also a bit of an incidental shrine to the human form. And while his tools for sculpting may not be the hammer and the chisel, he is still part of a long line of artists who have been inspired by the human body and the magnificent grace of its three dimensional form and characteristics. And in some ways, His is an equally subtle endeavor to that of a sculptor, who looks upon a formless hunk of stone and sees the hidden masterpiece within. Dr. Ryan's electronic gaze must penetrate our sinewy facade and draw out that which the eye cannot readily see, and present to the exterior world that which has only ever had an interior life. While these models are on one hand the product of computational and engineering processes, you can also see in them the unmistakable strokes of an artist's hand. And it's that combination of art and engineering that makes Justin Ryan so unique. He also sees a lot of similarities between art and medicine, and moving forward, Dr. Ryan hopes to continue to integrate the innovative energy of an artistic lens into the work of the Print Lab.

Dr. Justin Ryan  24:48  
Engaging in the art space is still very much of interest of mine. Previously in Phoenix I even had students from the School of Art their intern in the lab and work with fellow engineers. It was this great kind of sharing of resources. If you think about a drawing or a painting, it at its essence is data. It is the movement of the artist's hand that is creating that work. So we can think of a painting or drawing as motion capture of the artist in this very kind of abstract sense. So, in that way that it's visualizing data of movement, we're visualizing data of the body. We are looking at abstract data as is as medical professionals. And now we're just visualizing it in different way, which essentially is what an artist does. I've already started to talk with School of Art over here at UCSD to try to bring in students and bring in opportunities. They have a fantastic Digital Culture program, where this kind of art meets technology. I love to kind of round that off and have art meets technology meets medicine.

Derren Raser  25:59  
One aspect of medical care that I imagine many physicians find rewarding is the relational aspect of the work. You care for people, usually face to face, and you get to see firsthand the effects that your time, energy and care have on a patient and their family. The equation is a little different for a typical biomedical engineer, who might spend their entire career in a lab working to improve technology that has real positive impacts on patients, but there may never be an opportunity to see the fruits of those labors in person. In Justin Ryan's case, however, he reflects with gratitude that his biomedical work is a little different. There are ample opportunities for his research to extend beyond the confines of his lab, and connect him in tangible ways to the patients that he is serving. And sometimes he even gets to meet the patients and families for whom he's created a 3D model.

Dr. Justin Ryan  26:50  
Now that I've done this for nearly 10 years, I do get to meet patients who either I've produced molds for them in the past, or maybe they are older and it's a subsequent surgery. So, it's extremely rewarding, and I think that's something that I have the benefit over a lot of other biomedical engineers.

Derren Raser  27:08  
In the midst of putting this episode together, Justin Ryan and the 3D Innovations Print Lab were called upon to do some very important work in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. At a time when so many essential testing supplies and personal protective equipment were in severely short supply, Dr. Ryan was able to design and produce enormous amounts of COVID related devices - including over 3,000 face shields, 3,000 year saving devices for masks 100 ventilator splitters, and a collaboration with a local company that produced over 30,000 testing swabs. He prototyped and produced so much that he was not only able to provide these items to the staff at Rady Children's Hospital, but Rady was also able to license and sell them to other hospitals that were in desperate need of the supplies as well. Already an important part of the hospital, these recent contributions have solidified the lab as a true leader in innovation, and an incredibly flexible and valuable partner in addressing a wide variety of the hospital's emerging needs. Rady Children's Hospital also recently received some generous funding to support the work of the Print Lab. And as a result, the lab has updated its name to reflect that. It is now known as the Helen & Will Webster Foundation 3D Innovations Lab. In this new Wild West of 3D printing, innovation moves almost at the speed of thought. And as the integration of 3D printing into hospitals grows, so will its applications in the medical space. It will also continue to drive the movement towards patient-specific solutions, especially when it comes to the world of Pediatrics. And Justin Ryan is excited about the ways this technology might continue to better serve patients and their families.

Dr. Justin Ryan  28:57  
It's a very exciting time to figure out where 3D printing fits inside the hospital, and then see where other people want to take the technology.

Derren Raser  29:10  
To support the Helen & will Webster Foundation 3D Innovations Print Lab, and to learn more about the exciting and important work they're doing please visit www.rchsd.org and look for them under "Programs and Services." All of the music included in today's episode are my original compositions, with the exception of the song you're listening to now,"Heart of Mine," by my friend and amazing artist Erin Bode. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I'm Derren Raser and you've been listening to One Rare Heart.