James Dieffenderfer, a BME PhD student, wins first prize at CIMIT contest

James Dieffenderfer’s VitalFlo Spirometer won the first prize of $150,000 in the 2014 CIMIT-MGH-APF Primary Healthcare national competition. Dieffenderfer’s team is developing a low-cost, compact, handheld spirometer that communicates to a cell phone and server to enable the patient, caregiver, and physician to collaborate in the management of asthma or COPD. The VitalFlo project is the product of an ASSIST sponsored project in the Product Innovation Lab course taught by Jon Bohlmann, John McCreery, Ola Harrysson, Haig Khachatoorian, and John Muth, which brings MBS, Engineering, and Industrial Design students together to work on product ideas. James Dieffenderfer is a BME PhD student who does his research in the ECE Department and completed his undergraduate studies at NCSU. BME congratulates James and his team for their achievements.