Mastering the ‘spirit of frugal innovation’
A line from Apple founder Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University commencement address carries special meaning for Kayla Huemer as she ventures out into Africa, committed to advancing global health development through technology.
“He said, ‘You can’t connect the dots of your life looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward,’” Huemer says. “Looking back, the starting dot for me was working at the Morgridge Institute for Research. The skills I learned there, the mentors I gained and the opportunities I was given — they were the starting dot that got me to where I am today.”
Raised in Mount Horeb, Wis., Kayla earned her biomedical engineering degree at the UW–Madison while conducting research at Morgridge. She worked as a BerbeeWalsh Prototype Pathway student in the Fab Lab on fabrication of a zebrafish live imaging device along with researchers Robert Swader, George Petry, Ben Cox and Morgridge Investigator Kevin Eliceiri.
“One of the most valuable skills I gained from my time at Morgridge was the collaborative aspect of bringing people together from different disciplines and not being intimidated that someone else was an expert in their field,” she says. “I learned to see the intersection of my skills and their expertise as an opportunity to create something novel. That’s what I found most exciting.”
As an undergraduate, Huemer went to India for a research internship at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Using the engineering and design skills she honed at Morgridge, Huemer developed a prototype of a “Smart Shoe,” wearable device for diabetic patients to aid in the therapy of foot ulcers often experienced by patients with diabetes.
“Through my experience at Morgridge’s Fab Lab, I often worked with doctors and biologists. Then in India, I felt myself directly building on that confidence to work with doctors there.”
Her experience helped her earn a U.S. Fulbright research grant to continue developing the device at India’s CMC Vellore Hospital the year following her UW–Madison graduation.
There’s a Hindi word for it — jugaad — which means ‘the spirit of frugal innovation.’ I had found a gem of a concept many people back home struggled to relate to. It’s a mindset you use for solving problems when resources are strained.
Kayla Huemer
“While in India, I saw the way people were so resilient and creative in the way they solved problems when something would break,” she says. “There’s a Hindi word for it — jugaad — which means ‘the spirit of frugal innovation.’ I had found a gem of a concept many people back home struggled to relate to. It’s a mindset you use for solving problems when resources are strained.”
Huemer returned to Morgridge in 2019 as a visiting fellow exploring the use of machine learning to pull novel insights out of data she collected in India.
This set her on the path to graduate school at Stanford to study artificial intelligence in healthcare, global health, and design. There, she earned a master’s in bioengineering, honing her love of low-resource engineering.
Her Morgridge experience helped inform her work across the African continent. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, she worked as a product manager for the social-impact organization Medtronic LABS. She helped accelerate healthcare access through technology for underserved communities in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone.
This June, she transitioned to a role as head of product for Jacaranda Health, which works to strengthen maternity and child health. She works with PROMPTS, an AI-enabled digital health service that, through two-way text message exchange, empowers Kenyan women to seek care at the right time and place, ask questions, and provides information and greater agency in the health system.
“The ability to work with people from several fields to align on technology’s value and opportunity for innovation is something I began learning in Morgridge’s collaborative environment,” she says.
Rising Sparks: Early Career Stars
Rising Sparks is a monthly profile series exploring the personal inspirations and professional goals of early-career scientists at the Morgridge Institute.
Rising Sparks: Sabina Farhadova, Biomedical Imaging
Working with investigators Melissa Skala and Darcie Moore, Farhadova will use cutting-edge imaging technologies to answer fundamental questions about neurogenesis – the process by which new neurons are generated in the brain – and stem cell biology.
Rising Sparks: Kayla Huemer, biomedical engineering alum
Morgridge alum Kayla Heumer helps accelerate healthcare access for underserved communities in Africa, powered by technology and the 'spirit of frugal innovation.’
Rising Sparks: Jose Ayuso, biomedical imaging alum
Morgridge alum Jose Ayuso is an assistant professor in UW–Madison’s Department of Dermatology, where his lab uses advanced biomedical engineering technologies to tap the promise of precision medicine.
Rising Sparks: Danielle Lohman, metabolism alum
Morgridge alum lands at the U.S. Department of State, shaping the intersection of science policy and foreign affairs.
Rising Sparks: Nick Arp, metabolism
Nick Arp is building a toolbox of knowledge in the research lab and in the medical clinic, searching for answers to scientific questions that can improve patient care.
Rising Sparks: Raison Dsouza, structural biology
Raison Dsouza is developing new computational methods to analyze cryo-electron microscopy images, trying to find specific particles in “noisy,” corrupted data.
Rising Sparks: Lexi Menendez, regenerative biology
Lexi Menendez credits Morgridge and the PREP program for jump-starting her research career and graduate school future.
Rising Sparks: Kasia Wiech, biomedical imaging
Kasia Wiech, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, is on a mission to bring science out of the lab and into public spaces to highlight the impact of science in our everyday lives.
Rising Sparks: Roma Broadberry, biomedical imaging
Roma Broadberry, a biophysics graduate researcher in the Tim Grant Lab, is helping to illuminate the intricacy of viral replication using cryo-EM.
Rising Sparks: Andrés Tibabuzo, regenerative biology
From 'Jurassic Park' to snake venom to parasitic flatworms, Andrés Tibabuzo is motivated by the science that fascinates him.
Rising Sparks: Marcela Tabima, regenerative biology
Marcela Tabima has focused her fascination with human biology on two major research efforts in the Discovery Building — engineering synthetic arteries for surgery and finding new ways to treat inherited retinal diseases.
Rising Sparks: Katherine Overmyer, metabolism
Katie Overmyer collaborates with metabolism researchers to push the boundaries of mass spectrometry technology and uncover answers to important biological questions.
Rising Sparks: Joe Li, biomedical imaging
"You can always learn more": An unquenchable thirst for discovery guides Joe Li’s pursuit of cutting-edge light-sheet microscopy.
Rising Sparks: Odette Herrand, regenerative biology
Odette Herrand is drawn to the inherent creativity involved in answering complex scientific questions, which they use to study fertility in the fruit fly.
Rising Sparks: Peter Ducos, structural biology
Peter Ducos leans on his military training to solve complex problems and collaborate with other scientists by exploring molecular structures in exquisite detail.
Rising Sparks: Kim Huggler, metabolism
Kim Huggler believes science is fundamentally about creativity, and leverages an innovative cell culture media to reveal biological processes that conventional techniques cannot.
Rising Sparks: Ed Evans, biomedical imaging
Ed Evans sees every challenge as an opportunity to grow, and uses his passion for problem-solving to develop new imaging tools that will help other scientists.
