Last Week at KU

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to my blog! It’s hard to believe, but this is our final week of the internship. We had the chance to share our project updates with Dr. June and Eubrea, who gave us thoughtful guidance and helped us work through some of the challenges we’ve been facing.

Maasai Mara Trip

Last week, we took an unforgettable trip to the Maasai Mara. We spent two days exploring with Tony, a local Maasai guide who navigated all kinds of terrain to get us the best views of the landscape and wildlife. Here are some photos from the Mara!

Our projects: AutoFeto and ACE

After an inspiring trip to the Mara, we returned to present our progress to AutoFeto and ACE to our design mentors. Their insightful feedback and introductions to new contacts have been incredibly helpful in moving our ideas forward.

AutoFeto

The AutoFeto project began as a way to digitize the traditional Pinard horn and make fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring more accessible and reliable.

Initially, we tried using a microcontroller with an external microphone, but we found it difficult to capture the narrow frequency band of the fetal heartbeat. After several trials and discussions, we pivoted toward a more responsive solution: a mobile app that uses the phone’s built-in microphone, paired with the analog amplification of the Pinard horn. This hybrid approach improves sensitivity and usability, especially in low-resource settings.

As someone completely new to app development, I’ve found myself deep in YouTube tutorials, Google searches, and plenty of trial-and-error moments. But slowly, the pieces are coming together! AutoFeto is designed to serve both mothers and clinicians, providing the emotional reassurance of hearing the baby’s heartbeat and enabling more reliable clinical monitoring to catch any early signs of distress.

ACE (Active Cast Electrotherapy)

Our second project, ACE, is our host project and focuses on post-injury recovery. ACE delivers electrical stimulation to prevent muscle atrophy in patients recovering from fractures or soft tissue injuries. In my last blog, our circuit wasn’t delivering effective stimulation, but after switching to medical-grade electrodes, everything changed.

With great excitement (and a bit of hesitation), we tested the system on ourselves. The rhythmic muscle twitches on our arms confirmed that our circuit was finally working as intended! We also completed the integration of the EMG sensor and stimulation circuit into one streamlined system, housed in a compact, custom 3D-printed box that fits inside the cast. This combination enables ACE to detect voluntary muscle activation and reinforce it with electrical stimulation, helping patients maintain muscle strength during recovery.

Meetings upon Meetings

This week, we were also able to hear back from the Rice360 country director in Kenya, Dr. Okello, who kindly connected us with a pediatric surgeon and a gynecologist to discuss the EMB Trainer and the low-cost Gastroschisis Bag. Both clinicians were incredibly generous with their time and gave us valuable feedback grounded in the realities of clinical care in Kenya.

Dr. Mugambi, the pediatric surgeon we met with, was especially enthusiastic about the development of the low-cost gastroschisis bag, noting that it addresses a significant gap in neonatal care in Kenya. He shared that managing gastroschisis is a persistent challenge, particularly in rural and low-resource hospitals, where access to sterile, purpose-built bags is limited or nonexistent. We had a chance to walk him through the functionality, design, and proposed implementation of our prototype, and he provided incredibly helpful and actionable feedback. He suggested offering multiple rubber band sizes to better accommodate different infant anatomies, improving the mechanism for sealing the top of the bag to prevent contamination, and incorporating clearer guidelines or systems for sterilization.

The OB/GYN, also named Dr. Mugambi (a funny coincidence!), at Pumwani hospital, emphasized the critical role simulation-based training tools like the EMB Trainer can play in improving procedural competency, especially in settings where clinical exposure may be limited. He stressed the importance of anatomical accuracy, noting that trainees are more likely to develop proper technique when the device closely resembles actual clinical conditions. He also provided valuable suggestions for improving the trainer’s design. In particular, he recommended making the uterus model more stiff silicone, interchangeable services for variable resistance, and integrating other screenings such as LEEP and cryotherapy into the device. This would not only enhance training but also make the device more sustainable and cost-effective for use in medical education programs throughout Kenya.

We also had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Lonji, who is currently collaborating with a group of students from Kenyatta University to simulate childbirth for diagnosing cephalopelvic disproportion. His background in maternal health innovation made his feedback on our AutoFeto app especially insightful. He was very encouraging, expressing that the concept of digitizing the Pinard horn has strong potential to improve maternal care across Kenya. At the same time, he pushed us to think beyond our current scope by raising critical considerations we hadn’t fully addressed yet.

These included questions around data storage and patient privacy, particularly in systems that are still largely paper-based, as well as how to mitigate obstructive ambient noise, like maternal heartbeat, bowel sounds, or background chatter, that can interfere with fetal heart rate detection. Dr. Lonji also opened the door to potential collaborations, such as integrating our app with a digital partograph, which could streamline labor monitoring in low-resource settings. His input broadened our perspective and helped us better understand the broader ecosystem our app could eventually support.

Friends and Adventures

We’ve gotten to know so many amazing people during our time here, including some fellow Rice students. Hanging out with the Loewenstern Fellows from Rice CCL has been especially fun. One evening, we all went to a horse race and made friendly bets (no money involved!). Another evening, we went to a rooftop restaurant/movie theater to watch a documentary about Sister Nancy, a Jamaican singer and DJ, who revolutionized the hip-hop community as a female rapper.

This past weekend, we took our final trip in Kenya to Naivasha. We boated across Lake Naivasha, rode horses, and hiked through Hell’s Gate, which inspired The Lion King. A great way to wrap up our time here!

The two months I spent in Nairobi have been one of the most meaningful chapters of my life. The new experiences, friendships, and personal growth I’ve gained here are things I’ll never forget. This trip reignited so many of my passions and reminded me why I love what I do. 

Signing off, 

Ellena