#SoCaltech: Elisa Walsh
"In early March, we started hearing the reports from Italy about how their hospital systems were completely overwhelmed with the influx of COVID-19 patients. One of the most pressing issues was that there were not enough mechanical ventilators. With COVID-19, the lungs become so damaged in certain cases that the treatment of choice is to have the patient supported on a mechanical ventilator to allow their lungs to heal. This can often take a long period of time; in our hospital, we’ve seen some patients on a ventilator for weeks while recovering. In Italy, the ventilator shortages pressed doctors into making the unimaginable decision of choosing who would get a ventilator and who would not. As an anesthesia resident, I felt an immediate calling because every single day I'm working with mechanical ventilators for patients in the operating room and the intensive care unit. I can't imagine not being able to provide this lifesaving technology to a patient who is in need. Around that time, one of our senior residents reached out to our department and said, 'Hey, I have this idea for a moonshot challenge where we can try to engage people all over the globe to see if we can build a ventilator that would be rapidly deployable, that could be used in a lower-resource setting, and that could be used for future pandemics.' And I thought that sounded awesome, so I joined in."
Elisa Walsh (BS '12) is an anesthesia resident at Massachusetts General Hospital. Along with several of her colleagues, Walsh recently launched the CoVent-19 Challenge to design a rapidly deployable ventilator that could be manufactured in large quantities. From more than 150 initial entries, seven from across the globe are now in the final round. The final design will be selected in June, and will be streamed through prototyping, safety and regulatory testing, manufacturing and distribution.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.