[Credit: Emily Cao/Daily Bruin]

[Credit: Emily Cao/Daily Bruin]

Many college students see their lives as “on hold” until they can graduate and start working on projects that matter. Five undergraduates at UCLA decided that they don’t want to wait, so they created the new Bruin Medical Entrepreneurs group. This is more than just some extracurricular affinity group, however; these students mean business. Literally. The goal of the new organization is”to promote entrepreneurship among UCLA pre-health undergrads by providing resources, networking, and assistance in starting their own medical ventures.” The group plans to execute at least three proposals each year, aiming to “innovate and transform products into valuable economic goods in the healthcare industry.”

The group recently held an “Inventathon” where students could create and pitch their ideas about products that could address a specific healthcare problem. They recorded the presentations that were made as part of this event, which you can view here:

The group brings together students from a variety of majors, including molecular, cell, and developmental biology, computational and systems biology, engineering, geology, and cognitive science, among others. It’s exciting to see college students taking such initiative, and exploring solutions to real world problems through an interdisciplinary approach.