CSI Opportunities

At the Center for Surgical Innovation, we aim to support faculty members and trainees in building the future of surgery. Our community works to create connections and different forums for innovators to find the inspiration and support to pursue their individual interests, whether that's developing a new piece of surgical technology, exploring the potential of extended reality in surgery, or learning the process of bringing a product to market. While the CSI is primarily based in the Department of Surgery with the Surgical Innovation Lab in the Medical Science Building II, anyone at the University of Michigan is welcome to get involved and join our research community. We have collaborators across campus, spanning across the medical school, the College of Engineering, the Ross School of Business, and others.

When the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in limited time in clinical care settings for surgical trainees, we partnered with the XR Initiative in the Center for Academic Innovation and Microsoft to start implementing HoloLens2 technology to provide a virtual learning experience for surgical rounds.

Faculty members and trainees interested in exploring how this technology can be further utilized in learning experiences can become a member of the Center for Surgical Innovation to join our team of innovators passionate about finding new ways to teach and learn in virtual settings.

The Michigan Surgical Innovation Accelerator (MSIA) course is a six-month program for surgical faculty and trainees designed to teach the essentials of innovation and entrepreneurship while developing their ideas toward clinical impact. MSIA offers funding and mentorship to help participants further their innovative ideas.

The Surgical Innovation Discovery Course is an innovative approach to tackling tough clinical problems utilizing a Scrum-like methodology. Teams that decide to move forward with their project will be encouraged to apply for the Michigan Surgical Innovation Accelerator (MSIA) course to explore commercial viability.

We have developed a fellowship for residents in the Department of Surgery that can be completed during the course of their Academic Development Time (ADT) or independently.

The fellowship will assist surgical residents in honing their innovation and entrepreneurship skills, as they pursue an innovation project during the course of the fellowship.

Michigan Medicine's Department of Surgery faculty can take advantage of dedicated foundation grant resources, including access to a weekly non-federal grants RFP announcement report with opportunities ranging from $20,000 all the way up to $100M.