Graduate Student Awarded for Innovation in Primary Health Care

Monika Weber Project
07/24/2012

Monika Weber, a doctoral student in electrical engineering whose work was previously recognized with the grand prize in a national design competition, has been honored in the Ambulatory Practice of the Future "Prize for Primary Healthcare" competition. APF, an initiative of Massachusetts General Hospital, awards $400,000 in prizes among ten finalists, from an initial collection of 75 national entries. All finalists receive $10,000; for placing third, Weber will receive an additional $25,000.

Monika WeberDeveloped in collaboration with Brian Goldstein, Phillip McCown, Luye Mary Mu, Kara Brower and Shivang Patel, Weber's project, "Alpha-Screener: Rapid Pathogen Detection and Antimicrobial Test," points toward rapidly identifying pathogens in small blood samples.

The annual APF competition is open to both graduate and undergraduate U.S. students, and is "designed to encourage development of creative technological innovations with great potential to catalyze and support improved delivery of care at the frontlines of medicine." Prizes are awarded by APF in collaboration with the Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology.