On November 7^th 2018 we hosted our second local 3DHeals conference in Munich, which was sponsored by Materialise GmbH, a world-renowned 3D printing, and healthcare company. UnternehmerTUM GmbH, who offers founders and start-ups a complete service, from the initial idea all the way to IPO, kindly allowed us to use one of their great spaces at their headquarters in Garching by Munich. The event was well attended by researches, industry (big companies as well as startups) and medical healthcare professionals. 

Three very fascinating innovative talks were given by Martin Herzmann, Stefan Leonhardt and Dr. med. dent. Michael Berthold. Martin Herzmann from Materialise GmbH shined a light on the pressing question about when, how and most importantly why patient-specific implants can fail, even when the design is right. Stefan Leonhardt introduced us the practice and visions of Kumovis GmbH, a startup whose 3D printing systems allow the manufacture of individualized PEEK implants. The last speaker of the night, Dr. med. dent. Michael Berthold (Implantology LTD) shared some new clinical insight about the application of innovative root analog implants.

The ongoing vivid discussion with the panelist was briefly interrupted by the arrival of delicious pizza but continued until late that evening. Thanks again to our sponsor Materialise GmbH, our host UnternehmerTUM GmbH, our three amazing speakers and of course our wonderful Munich community for making this event such a success. See you all for Happy Hour in January! 

About the Author

Hannah is 3DHEALS Munich Community Manager and a research associate at the Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems of the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. She lives in Munich, where she also studied medical technologies at the faculty of mechanical engineering at the TU Munich. Her research concentrates on 3D printing of medical models and devices based on anatomical image data. 

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Gabe Linke has been in the imaging profession for over 10 years as a technologist in MRI. He received his Bachelors in Radiation Sciences from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 2 years ago he became the Cardiac Imaging & 3D Printing Coordinator for Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha Nebraska. His original duties involved overseeing Cardiac CT and MRI and starting their 3D printing program. This program started with 3D printing cardiac models for presurgical planning. It has since grown outside of cardiology and is hospital-wide serving multiple subspecialties with presurgical planning, educational modeling, and numerous research applications. Gabe will also be a speaker for our upcoming 3DHEALS OMAHA: AdvancedTek, Healthcare 3D Printing event.

Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?

Gabe: I experienced 3D printing for the first time when I accepted my position at Omaha Children’s Hospital. I was in my second interview for a cardiac imaging coordinator position and Dr. Scott Fletcher handed me a printed heart from a case they had done.  It blew me away to hold the replica of the child’s heart in my hand and I immediately could see the potential this technology would have to impact healthcare.

Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?

Gabe: After accepting the job at Omaha Children’s I was shown the printer that we had received as a gift to start our own in-house 3D printing program. The program started in Cardiology, but as I saw the way these 3D Models impacted the way our Cardio-thoracic surgeons I knew we had to do more. Seeing the impact in the first few cases inspired me to go to my directors and expand the program to a hospital-wide 3D printing service.

Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.

Gabe: I think I would have to say Dr. Scott Fletcher after my answer earlier right? Scott gave me the gift of this job and I will forever be grateful to him. He has taught me so much about congenital cardiology and has supported me every step of the way as this program continues to grow.

Dr. Jorge Zuniga has taught me so much about the technology of 3D printing and the global impact we can have using this technology together. I very early on adopted his vision for open collaboration is paramount in a successful program. I am honored to call him a personal friend and colleague.

Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?

Gabe: Our patients, period. I joined the medical profession for one reason and that was to help people. Seeing a child set down an iPad to better understand why he’s having an operation, hearing a surgeon speak on how they did a better procedure or operation due to a 3D model, or hearing how much better a nurse can do her job because she was handed a 3D model of a patient’s heart. All of these are helping a patient through one means or another to have better care.

Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?

Gabe: One of the biggest obstacles, was growing our program outside of Cardiology. My solution was easy:  Dr. Lincoln Wong. Dr. Wong, one of our radiologists, adopted this technology and showed it to everyone. He would be reading a case and see where the application could help a surgeon and would have a model made. He would take these models to the surgeons and that was it. Our hospital now prints for multiple subspecialties and we continue to grow. Dr. Wong’s passion for 3D printing has been paramount in the expansion of our program.

Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Gabe: I have to admit that I have to answer this from a perspective that I do not personally know. Omaha Children’s has been very supportive of its 3D Printing Program, but in general, I think that funding for these programs is the biggest challenge. This will take care of itself in time, as I believe that reimbursement is inevitable based on the positive impacts 3D models are having on patient care.

Jenny: If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?

Gabe:

1. A life full of love: it is the single most powerful thing in the universe and can overcome anything put in its way.
2. The cure for mental illness/addiction.
3. The Flashes Speed ( had to lighten the mood a little)

Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?

Gabe: Find something that you’re passionate about and you enjoy doing and figure out how to turn it into your job.

Bad advice: Do a job just for the money.

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Martine Herzmann is an experienced MedTec professional who is responsible since 2015 as Sales Manager for the Medical Portfolio of Materialise in all German-speaking countries. The 3D printing portfolio of Materialise ranges from cardiovascular to orthopedic and CMF for hospitals as well as for MedTech companies and academic institutes. Before joining Materialise in 2015 Martin established the role of Director Global Marketing at Ziehm Imaging in Nuremberg (a German X-ray company for intraoperative imaging) and significantly influenced 8 years Ziehm Imaging´s marketing activities. Another 8 years ago – in 1999 – Martin started his MedTech career at Brainlab where he fulfilled different roles in Sales, Marketing and finally Business Development. Martin holds a degree in business administration which rounds up his in-depth understanding of planning software, intraoperative navigation, different imaging modalities and 3D printing.

Martin will be a speaker for our upcoming Munich event. 

Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?

Martin: I experienced 3d printing in CMF in 2005 the first time and was impressed about the clinical relevance in those days to visualize anatomy and explain complex procedures.

Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey/company/career/research in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?

Martin: Since 1999 I am working in MedTech industries and was able to spearhead intraoperative navigation, intraoperative 3d imaging. In 2015 Materialise and I and both agreed on the potential of the German-speaking medical market in 3D printing and 3D planning software and joined forces. Why Materialise? It is the joy of growth, of innovation and of the possibility to shape a market.

Jenny: Who inspired you the most along this journey in 3D printing (bio-printing/bio-fabrication)? This can be a mentor, a patient, a celebrity, anyone basically. You can name more than one as well.

Martin: Zion certainly as a patient.  Professor Gellrich in Hannover as a visionary surgeon.  Brigitte de Vet as a strategic sparring partner in my organization.

Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?

Martin: The joy of growth for the organization and successful treatments of patients

Jenny: What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?

Martin: Setting priorities and gaining an overview of multiple opportunities.

Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?

Martin: Challenge: Translation from science to patient care.

Jenny: If you are granted three wishes by a higher being, what would they be?

Martin: Health, luck, joy for rest of my life.

Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advices you heard should they ignore?

Martin: If you face an inner conflict between your brain and your gut feeling, then trust your gut feeling.

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Hannah is a research associate at the Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems of the FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. She lives in Munich, where she also studied medical technologies at the faculty of mechanical engineering at the TU Munich. Her research concentrates on 3D printing of medical models and devices based on anatomical image data. Ms Riedle is our current Munich 3DHEALS Community Manager and will be a speaker as well as a hands-on instructor for our workshop at #3DHEALS2018.
Jenny: When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like? What were you thinking at that moment?
Hannah: My first encounter with 3D printing was in a university, where at that time it was still called rapid prototyping. We all were very impressed with the sample, a little ball within another, brought to the lecture.
Jenny: What inspired you to start your journey/research in 3D printing (bio-fabrication/bio-printing)?
Hannah: 3D printing is a field with a lot of opportunities, a lot of new challenges and a lot to learn. It is exciting to work in a field, which is constantly growing, and changing.
Jenny: What motivates you the most for your work?
Hannah: The fact that a simple idea can still go a long way in 3D printing. We are sort of still at beginning of the technology, so there is still a wide range of new ideas out there when compared to traditional production processes.
Jenny: What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D Printing/bio-printing? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Hannah: I think the biggest challenges are to get software and hardware up to the level, that they allow us to realize the ideas that we already have now and for which we are only waiting for technology to catch up. But also to start thinking about the new ideas, we could already realize now, but have not thought about yet, because we were all surrounded by an educated for designs for conventional production processes.
Jenny: What advice would you give to a smart driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice you heard should they ignore?
Hannah: The best time to learn a new skill/software/… is during a college project, because later on you, unfortunately, will not have as much time to focus as much on just a single task. So do not be afraid of choosing something new, because that is where you can still learn the most.
Jenny: What was/is the biggest risk you took in your career?
Hannah: I started a job in a different city to work on my first project on 3D printing in healthcare.
 
 
 
 

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