Professor Dan Bogen loves children's toys - designing them, that is.
Bogen, an associate professor of Bioengineering since 1982, started a program called PennToys as a project for his Bioengineering Senior Design students. For more than 14 years, students involved with PennToys have designed devices so medical researches and therapists can use them to help diagnose and treat disabled children.
Bogen, who recieved a Ph.D. and M.D. from Harvard, did not know that his research would eventually take this route - his original work centered on developing cardiac devices.
But his medical school interest in pediatrics was rekindled in the early '90s when he discovered the area of rehabilitation engineering. "[I realized] the thing I enjoyed most was making things," Bogen said.
His inspiration for PennToys came during a visit to Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, where he saw that the children in cognitive rehabilitation programs had no toys to play with.
"The [children] with brain injuries physically could not manipulate the little switches, so [I thought why not] replace them with big switches?" explained Bogen.
Over the last few years, the program has focused on the development of musical instruments. Bogen has started working closely with musical therapists at CHOP to teach the kids how to play the instruments. He hopes that the kids will be able to form a "jam band" and connect with one another through music.
He might even join in on his guitar, which he just picked up again after starting to develop the instruments.
"I've been playing everyday!" Bogen said.
It is programs such as these that help motivate children undergoing therapy to practice their exercises more often, Bogen explained. "Rehabilitation engineering is really about letting people do the things they want to do."
Bogen loves being at Penn and students love having him here. He is described as one of the most sought-after advisors in the Bioengineering department and received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2005.
And even though he has been teaching at Penn for 26 years, he recently became more involved in student life. He has been the faculty master in Harnwell College House for the past three years and hopes to live there for at least five more.
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