NEWS
Honor
- Publish Date：2025-04-14
Double Victory for NYCU Med: AI Surgery System Wins International Prize, Chair Clinches Edison Gold
NYCU's team secured a remarkable 5th place finish, along with a $25,000 award, in this highly competitive event.
Translated by Szu-Yung Huang
Edited by Hsiu-Cheng Faina Chang
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Edited by Hsiu-Cheng Faina Chang
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Global Health Innovation Challenge 2025 is more than just a competition; it represents a revolution fueled by collaboration between the global medical and engineering communities. We aim not simply to prepare students to excel in exams but to empower them to tackle real-world clinical challenges and become truly interdisciplinary physicians of the future.
Teams from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) delivered a standout performance at the inaugural Global Health Innovation Grand Challenge 2025 by the Global Consortium of Innovation and Engineering in Medicine (GCIEM) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Competing against hundreds of international entries, NYCU secured a remarkable 5th-place finish and a $25,000 prize, making it the only non-U.S. team to break into the top five. Three NYCU teams advanced to the semifinal round, where 57 teams were selected to compete.
Professor Chih-Chieh Yang, Chair of the NYCU School of Medicine, highlighted that the summit attracted 56 elite student teams from various countries, including the United States, Japan, and Italy. The projects presented by three NYCU School of Medicine teams addressed a wide range of clinical needs, including AI-assisted surgical systems, mixed-reality training platforms, and remote ECG reconstruction technologies. These projects are all closely aligned with real-world medical challenges and demonstrate the unique capabilities of NYCU's "doctor-engineer" student teams in integrating healthcare expertise with technological innovation.
The team behind the "Da Vinci Arm Assistance System," which secured fifth place, was represented by student Yu-Jing Chen. He explained that their innovation integrates AI with advanced sensor technology to detect critical structures in real time, such as those in the urinary system. The system issues alerts to prevent accidental injuries, effectively addressing a surgical injury rate of up to 4.8%. Remarkably, its estimated implementation cost is only $100, making it an affordable and scalable solution that significantly enhances surgical safety.
Teams from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) delivered a standout performance at the inaugural Global Health Innovation Grand Challenge 2025 by the Global Consortium of Innovation and Engineering in Medicine (GCIEM) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Competing against hundreds of international entries, NYCU secured a remarkable 5th-place finish and a $25,000 prize, making it the only non-U.S. team to break into the top five. Three NYCU teams advanced to the semifinal round, where 57 teams were selected to compete.
Professor Chih-Chieh Yang, Chair of the NYCU School of Medicine, highlighted that the summit attracted 56 elite student teams from various countries, including the United States, Japan, and Italy. The projects presented by three NYCU School of Medicine teams addressed a wide range of clinical needs, including AI-assisted surgical systems, mixed-reality training platforms, and remote ECG reconstruction technologies. These projects are all closely aligned with real-world medical challenges and demonstrate the unique capabilities of NYCU's "doctor-engineer" student teams in integrating healthcare expertise with technological innovation.
The team behind the "Da Vinci Arm Assistance System," which secured fifth place, was represented by student Yu-Jing Chen. He explained that their innovation integrates AI with advanced sensor technology to detect critical structures in real time, such as those in the urinary system. The system issues alerts to prevent accidental injuries, effectively addressing a surgical injury rate of up to 4.8%. Remarkably, its estimated implementation cost is only $100, making it an affordable and scalable solution that significantly enhances surgical safety.
NYCU students and faculty participants pose for a photograph with Dean Mark Cohen and Executive Deputy Dean Greg Polites.
Reflecting on the honor of winning such a prestigious international competition, Chen said, "We feel incredibly proud to represent Taiwan on the global stage as members of the Doctor-Engineer program. It's a rare and meaningful experience for the world to witness the cross-disciplinary strength of our program. We are deeply grateful to our mentors from the hospital and the Department of Electrical Engineering and to everyone who supported us and provided resources throughout this journey. Most importantly, I want to thank my teammates. The four of us dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to this project despite our heavy coursework, and we're thrilled that our hard work has paid off."
In addition, another major triumph for NYCU, Dr. Chih-Chieh Yang—Chair of the NYCU School of Medicine and Deputy Director of the AI Healthcare Center at Taipei Veterans General Hospital—won the 2025 Edison Awards Gold Medal in Biotechnology and Medical Innovation for his cutting-edge "BrainProbe" Intelligent Neuroimaging Platform. Dubbed the "Oscars of Innovation," the Edison Awards honor world-changing technologies with global impact—making this a prestigious win and a double victory for NYCU in medical innovation.
Professor Chih-Chieh Yang, Chair of the NYCU School of Medicine, received the 2025 Edison Award for his groundbreaking contributions to psychiatric diagnosis and global mental health care.Since 2019, Dr. Yang has been committed to advancing AI-powered neuroimaging technologies. His system utilizes AI to detect subtle changes in brain structure that are not visible to the human eye, thereby aiding research and clinical evaluations for conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.
For example, in schizophrenia, patients often show abnormalities in cortical thickness in regions such as the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and insular cortex after the onset of the disease. In cases of bipolar and depressive disorders, atypical changes typically occur in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus. These findings enable more precise targeting for treatments like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or deep brain stimulation (DBS).
Dr. Yang traveled to the U.S. in April to accept the prestigious 2025 Edison Award in Biotechnology and Medical Innovation—and to celebrate his students' international success. Applauding their bold creativity, strong faculty support, and NYCU's cutting-edge resources, Dr. Yang highlighted how these achievements underscore the university's global edge in medical-engineering integration. He also expressed his hope that their groundbreaking neuroimaging technology will inspire more students to pursue real-world clinical innovation, stating, "True unity of knowledge and action is achieved when technology can be applied in the real world."
