How the next generation of innovators wants to improve healthcare
It was with great joy and pride that many students received scholarships at Halmstad University’s graduation fair Utexpo in June. For the fourth consecutive year, Getinge Sterilization rewarded students who had carried out outstanding graduation projects in health innovation.
“We have recruited many engineers from the University, so it feels important to keep up with developments and recognise students who carry out great graduation projects.”
Niclas Jonasson, Vice President of Getinge Life Science
Four graduation projects were awarded scholarships from the University’s collaboration partner, Getinge Sterilization – a company with long experience in medical technology and a strong focus on future solutions in healthcare. In total, SEK 100,000 was awarded by the Vice President of Getinge Life Science, Niclas Jonasson.
“Utexpo is exciting for us as an employer. We have recruited many engineers from the University, so it feels important to keep up with developments and recognise students who carry out great graduation projects in the field we work with – health innovation”, says Niclas Jonasson.
From the left: Moa Johansson, Emma Karlberg, Malin Persson, Alexander Reevcrona, Jasmine Alani, Niclas Jonasson and Ismail Demir.
AI for detecting the rare
Alexander Reevcrona, one of the first students to graduate from the programme Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI), was awarded SEK 20,000 for his graduation project. In his work, he tackled a well-known problem in automated medical coding: that rare diagnoses often remain undetected by AI models. Therefore, Alexander Reevcrona examined how AI can assign diagnostic codes based on patients’ medical records.
“I wanted to investigate how to reduce the skew in predictions between common and rare diagnoses. By using what is called Asymmetric Loss, I succeeded in improving the accuracy for rare diagnoses”, explains Alexander Reevcrona.
The study demonstrates how small technical improvements can make a great difference in how well healthcare manages to identify rare and hard-to-detect diagnoses.
Fear and empowerment among rheumatism patients
Moa Johansson, from the Master’s Programme in Health and Lifestyle, was awarded the largest individual scholarship from Getinge Sterilization, SEK 30,000. Her work focuses on how fear-based beliefs about physical activity affect patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
In a large survey involving more than 1,100 patients, the results showed that high levels of fear-avoidance belief were associated with physical inactivity, obesity, more pain and fatigue, poorer function and lower quality of life.
The results, says Moa Johansson, clearly indicate that psychological factors need to be given greater consideration in the care of people with rheumatoid arthritis. This autumn, the graduation project will be presented at an international rheumatology congress.
Custom-built AI for prostate cancer diagnosis
The computer engineering students Jasmine Alani and Ismail Demir were also recognised with a scholarship of SEK 25,000 for their graduation project, which focuses on the most common form of cancer among men – prostate cancer. By developing their own AI model and comparing it with existing systems, the students found a reliable way of detecting prostate cancer in medical images.
“We address a critical issue: that today’s radiological assessments are often subjective and vary greatly between doctors. Our work can contribute to faster and more accurate diagnoses, thereby improving the quality of patient care”, says Jasmine Alani.
Digital platform for a national blood system
Last but not least, Emma Karlberg and Malin Persson from the Programme in Innovation Engineering were awarded SEK 25,000 from Getinge Sterilization for a solution aimed at overcoming the current region-based blood system. The student duo created a platform that connects blood donors, blood services and healthcare, offering a more transparent, automated and sustainable management.
“Today’s blood donation system is fragmented and difficult to navigate for both donors and healthcare. With our project, we wanted to create a solution that simplifies, coordinates and improves both access and experience”, says Malin Persson.
Niclas Jonasson sees a strong link between Getinge Sterilization and Halmstad University, describing the University as an important part of the company’s development. He hopes that the collaboration will continue to inspire even more students to become involved in health innovation in the future:
“We want students who visit Utexpo to feel motivated to do graduation projects in health innovation next year.”
Text: Katarina Tran
Photo: Dan Bergmark
Halmstad University in collaboration with Getinge Sterilization Inc.
One of the University’s focus areas is health innovation, a multidisciplinary and cross-university research and education initiative. The aim is to contribute innovative and sustainable solutions to societal challenges in the field of health. In line with this, Halmstad University and Getinge Sterilization Inc. entered into a ten-year strategic collaboration agreement in autumn 2020, as a way to strengthen and further develop education, research and innovation in the long term.
Getinge Sterilization Inc. specialises in the manufacture of sterilisers for the pharmaceutical industry and is part of Getinge Inc. Many of the company’s employees have previously studied at Halmstad University.
