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Engineering a humane difference
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Cleveland native’s nonprofit organization delivers training, medical equipment to developing world
By Janet Dery
Associate Editor
University Heights native and Duke University professor Bob Malkin, 46, has spent much of his adult life finding ways to help those less fortunate than he. In 1989, he moved to northern Thailand, where he worked on a project, teaching villagers to make shirts as a financial alternative to selling their children into prostitution.
Returning to the States, Malkin went to graduate school in electrical engineering. “I knew there was a tremendous need for engineering talent in the developing world,” he explains. At that time, there were no opportunities for engineers to go abroad to help.
Malkin has since made those opportunities available. The nonprofit organization he helped found in 1999, Engineering World Health, last year counted 600 volunteers in its myriad programs. Many of these volunteers travel to developing countries to deliver medical equipment or to train locals on the use of that equipment; most are engineering students or graduates of the field.
Engineering World Health, which incorporated as a general limited liability organization and is also a 501(c)(3), is projected to earn $900,000 in revenue this fiscal year, says Malkin, who just recently stepped down as director of EWH but still remains chairman of the board. “It is absolutely a business, and it’s run like a business,” he adds. “We decided early on that our model was not going to be based on donations. We wanted a true social entrepreneurship model – if you want to volunteer for our program, you have to pay for it.”
EWH chapters, located all over the U.S., Canada and England, cost $35 for membership. Eight-week trips to Tanzania, Nicaragua and Honduras, for example, cost the volunteer about $5,000, plus airfare. That’s if you can get accepted – Malkin notes the applicant pool is highly competitive. “We received about twice as many applications as we have spots in our programs.”
EWH has three main programs. The first involves collecting used and broken equipment from U.S. hospitals, repairing it, then delivering it to remote areas of the world. The second places engineers in those hospitals to repair existing equipment; the third designs, manufactures and distributes specialized pieces of equipment constructed specifically for developing world hospitals.
More recently, EWH has added a fourth component to the business: equipment developed by volunteers and constructed by high-school students, who pay for the privilege. Do-it-yourself kits currently cost $15 and contain everything one needs except the tools to build a medical device. One kit may contain a defibrillator tester (that ensures defibrillators are functioning properly); another still in development will contain a device to treat jaundice. “We’re on track to sell 500 units next fiscal year,” says Malkin. Down the road, however, the organization is planning on selling thousands to students.
“We’re looking to diversify revenue streams,” explains Malkin. “As far as I know, this is a completely new business model for how to get aid to the developing world. It recognizes that volunteering has value to the volunteers and that they are willing to pay in this particular way.”
On EWH’s website, you’ll find the following:
“Imagine living in a place where newborns have one of the highest mortality rates in the world, where poverty is rampant, and where per capita income barely covers the necessities of life. A place where power supplies may be unreliable and a simple blown fuse can affect life-saving surgical procedures. Sadly, there are many places such as this worldwide. Engineering World Health (EWH) has been created to answer the needs of disadvantaged areas through providing and maintaining appropriate medical technology.”
Thanks to the efforts of Bob Malkin and now thousands of others, people in developing countries around the world are seeing improvement in their healthcare status.
Engineering World Health: Measures of success
• Organization has enjoyed 100% growth rate and is projected to earn $900,00 this fiscal year.
• Approximately 2,500 lbs. of medical equipment shipped in 2008.
• Last year, EWH returned approximately $1 million worth of repaired medical
equipment to the developing world.
• EWH website (www.ewh.org) receives about 2,000 hits a day.
• EWH delivered approximately 2,000 hours of training to the staff of developing world hospitals last year.
Returning to the States, Malkin went to graduate school in electrical engineering. “I knew there was a tremendous need for engineering talent in the developing world,” he explains. At that time, there were no opportunities for engineers to go abroad to help.
Malkin has since made those opportunities available. The nonprofit organization he helped found in 1999, Engineering World Health, last year counted 600 volunteers in its myriad programs. Many of these volunteers travel to developing countries to deliver medical equipment or to train locals on the use of that equipment; most are engineering students or graduates of the field.
Engineering World Health, which incorporated as a general limited liability organization and is also a 501(c)(3), is projected to earn $900,000 in revenue this fiscal year, says Malkin, who just recently stepped down as director of EWH but still remains chairman of the board. “It is absolutely a business, and it’s run like a business,” he adds. “We decided early on that our model was not going to be based on donations. We wanted a true social entrepreneurship model – if you want to volunteer for our program, you have to pay for it.”
EWH chapters, located all over the U.S., Canada and England, cost $35 for membership. Eight-week trips to Tanzania, Nicaragua and Honduras, for example, cost the volunteer about $5,000, plus airfare. That’s if you can get accepted – Malkin notes the applicant pool is highly competitive. “We received about twice as many applications as we have spots in our programs.”
EWH has three main programs. The first involves collecting used and broken equipment from U.S. hospitals, repairing it, then delivering it to remote areas of the world. The second places engineers in those hospitals to repair existing equipment; the third designs, manufactures and distributes specialized pieces of equipment constructed specifically for developing world hospitals.
More recently, EWH has added a fourth component to the business: equipment developed by volunteers and constructed by high-school students, who pay for the privilege. Do-it-yourself kits currently cost $15 and contain everything one needs except the tools to build a medical device. One kit may contain a defibrillator tester (that ensures defibrillators are functioning properly); another still in development will contain a device to treat jaundice. “We’re on track to sell 500 units next fiscal year,” says Malkin. Down the road, however, the organization is planning on selling thousands to students.
“We’re looking to diversify revenue streams,” explains Malkin. “As far as I know, this is a completely new business model for how to get aid to the developing world. It recognizes that volunteering has value to the volunteers and that they are willing to pay in this particular way.”
On EWH’s website, you’ll find the following:
“Imagine living in a place where newborns have one of the highest mortality rates in the world, where poverty is rampant, and where per capita income barely covers the necessities of life. A place where power supplies may be unreliable and a simple blown fuse can affect life-saving surgical procedures. Sadly, there are many places such as this worldwide. Engineering World Health (EWH) has been created to answer the needs of disadvantaged areas through providing and maintaining appropriate medical technology.”
Thanks to the efforts of Bob Malkin and now thousands of others, people in developing countries around the world are seeing improvement in their healthcare status.
Engineering World Health: Measures of success
• Organization has enjoyed 100% growth rate and is projected to earn $900,00 this fiscal year.
• Approximately 2,500 lbs. of medical equipment shipped in 2008.
• Last year, EWH returned approximately $1 million worth of repaired medical
equipment to the developing world.
• EWH website (www.ewh.org) receives about 2,000 hits a day.
• EWH delivered approximately 2,000 hours of training to the staff of developing world hospitals last year.
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