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George Korir

RELP Cohort: 2014
Medicine and Bioengineering
School: Medicine

Born in Roret Village in Nakuru, Kenya, George lived there up until he left to study engineering at Harvey Mudd College. Upon graduation, he worked at a medical device firm in Germantown, Maryland, developing a closed-loop thermal haptics system for an advanced prosthetic arm that would interface with the nervous system. He then joined the Johns Hopkins University to pursue a Masters degree in biomedical engineering. While at Hopkins, George was selected as a global economic governance and development fellow in a three-month program run by Duke University in Geneva, Switzerland. It was during this time that he also worked at the World Health Organization headquarters in the facilities and planning team, developing medical equipment maintenance strategies to be incorporated in resource-planning software for developing countries. Since graduating from Johns Hopkins, George has worked at a medical technology start-up in Maryland and at a cancer research lab transitioning to commercializing its technology, in Boston. At Stanford, George is in a joint degree program, where he his completing a masters degree in medicine and a doctorate degree in the bioengineering. His research focus is on the development of medical technologies for low-resource settings. His first project is on a technology that he invented with his advisor. The device is a zero-power, multiplex platform based on punch card programming as applied to microfluidic technology, with the potential of being used across different fields. The first application of this platform is on medical diagnostics for resource limited settings. In addition, he is building an ultra-low cost, solar powered hearing aid following a clinical needs finding trip in China that he took part in as a global biodesign student exchange fellow. Outside of research, George manages the Escondido Village North community garden, currently serving 53 members. He is also building a solar powered aquaponics system at the Stanford Community Farm. For leisure, he enjoys cooking, trail running and exploring the great outdoors.