CENTER FOR MEDICAL INNOVATION
CENTER FOR MEDICAL INNOVATION
Dr. Julie Hansen Fellowship Program
The Dr. Julie Hansen Fellowship program at the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) is designed for students at the University of Utah to directly apply their skills to projects under development in CMI’s Med Tech Venture Studio and prepare for a career in the medical technologies (MedTech) industry.
Students work in direct collaboration with CMI’s full-time staff to support the ongoing research and development of new medical technologies as they are de-risked and prepared for competitive entry into the healthcare market. Dr. Julie Hansen Fellows will be required to work 20 hours per week on-site at the Sorenson Center for Medical Innovation on the University of Utah Health campus.
Over the course of their year-long program, Hansen Fellows will be assigned to a variety of different projects relevant to their skillset and potentially collaborate with other Hansen Fellows on the same project(s). Focus areas include:
- Market Research: In-depth market assessments of potential new technologies and reimbursement strategies
- Engineering: Prototyping & Design of new medical devices in a defined Quality Management System
- Regulatory Affairs: Engaging with industry-educational programming and or relevant governing bodies (e.g. FDA)
The fellowship program will run three consecutive semesters, with students starting the fellowship in Summer 2026. The program will run through the end of the Spring 2027 semester.
Candidate Requirements
Must be an undergraduate or graduate student (Masters or PhD*) with at least one full (12-month) calendar year remaining in their academic programming at the University of Utah. Relevant academic programs may include:
- Masters of Public Health (MPH)
- Masters of Healthcare Administration (MHA)
- Business Administration (Bachelors or Masters)
- Mechanical, Electrical or Biomedical Engineering (Bachelors, Masters, or PhD*)
20 hours per week on-site at the Sorenson Center for Medical Innovation
Familiarity with device development (any industry) or previous experience in healthcare preferred.
*Note: Some PhD students may be ineligible for tuition or the living stipend due to existing funding structures within their department.
Hansen Fellowship Program Benefits
- Gain professional, direct experience in the med tech development industry
- Ongoing projects incorporate current best-practices and academic trends
- Two semesters (Fall & Spring) of full tuition scholarship for student's academic program, in addition to monthly living stipend
HOW TO APPLY
To apply for the 2026-2027 Dr. Julie Hansen Fellowship, please email Jenny Flint (jenny.flint@hsc.utah.edu) with the following information in PDF format:
Resume (one page maximum)
Cover Letter (please include your major, degree, graduation semester and year, and preferred focus area)
The priority application deadline is Friday, January 30, 2026.
Meet our 2025-2026 Hansen Fellows
Alexander Gibson is pursuing an MBA and an MS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah. His work bridges health policy, biomedical research, and entrepreneurship, with a focus on expanding access to high-quality healthcare. He is passionate about developing culturally grounded, AI-powered tools for underserved communities and has co-authored publications at Stanford Medical Center on Medicaid access and trauma care. He earned a BS in Biophysics from Brigham Young University, where he published research on machine learning for cancer detection. He led the development of TriagePoint, a mobile pre-screening system that won the 2025 Best in Medicine Award at Utah’s Bench to Bedside competition. Through his fellowship at the Center for Medical Innovation, Alexander brings technical depth and business strategy to early-stage projects, preparing to lead as a future scientist at the intersection of medicine, invention, and entrepreneurship.
Nathan’s passion for medical device innovation is driven by a commitment to improve quality of life for individuals across diverse communities. As an undergraduate student at the University of Utah, he worked as an engineer in multiple neural engineering labs in addition to an internship with Co Diagnostics developing an in-vitro diagnostic device.
In 2024, Nathan and his team were awarded the Grand Prize at the Bench to Bedside (B2B) competition hosted by the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI). This achievement led to the launch of their startup, C-Blu, which is developing a cervical cancer screening device designed for use in low-resource settings. The team is currently preparing for a clinical study at the University of Utah Hospital and a larger international study in collaboration with Liger Medical.
Nathan is on track to receive his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Utah in May 2026, with certificates in Neurotechnology and Regulatory Affairs. He plans to pursue a career in Utah’s medical device industry, where he hopes to continue advancing technologies that make healthcare more accessible and effective.