Center Mission
Mission Statement: To advance medical technologies into the real world through human-centered and community-engaged methodologies focused on the lived experiences of real people.
Vision Statement: To enable all people to fully participate in life activities by driving innovation at the intersection of health, technology, and society.
Center Values:
- Community Engagement: We actively involve community partners in the research process, valuing their insights and needs to shape relevant and effective solutions through Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and participatory action research (PAR). Human-Centered Design (HCD): We prioritize the needs and experiences of patients, their families and caregivers, and their communities in all aspects of technology development and implementation.
- Inclusivity: We strive to create solutions that are accessible and acceptable to diverse populations, ensuring equity and representation in our research and outreach.
- Innovation: We are committed to advancing medical technologies (MedTech) that address pressing health issues and improve quality of life for individuals, families and communities traditionally underserved in our current system of care.
- Collaboration: We value interdisciplinary teamwork and partnerships with communities, healthcare providers, and industry to drive impactful solutions. Complex health issues facing society today cannot be addressed by any one discipline.
Center Goals
Chronic pain, addiction, mental health and disability were identified as leading public health challenges for the US by multiple national and international organizations. These issues involve complex interconnected systems, and cannot be addressed by any one discipline or approach, and require transformative innovations at the intersection of health, technology, and society. The purpose of this Center is to tackle these public health concerns and develop and translate necessary technology. Our patient-centric methods and innovative technologies will also enable us to pursue research that addresses other biomedical challenges of high consequence, including cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic wounds. Importantly, our Center leverages our strong track record of generating intellectual property and network of industrial partners to translate and commercialize our technological solutions ensuring equitable access to such technologies and their societal impact.
CASSBI has three overarching goals:
- Expand transdisciplinary research capacity at Mason for medical technology innovations addressing public health challenges. The focus is on developing innovative, patient-centered medical devices, systems, and solutions that address real-world health issues.
- Build medical technology translation and implementation science capacity.
- Expand transdisciplinary training capacity in systems science.