
Design that Matters
Model & Strategy
Great design can only have an impact if it is adopted at scale. Although individual DtM products can save hundreds of lives, they see the greatest potential impact in their influence on global health standards. DtM’s vision is that each product they develop will become the standard of care in low-resource settings.
This is the end game for a product like Firefly: providing an overwhelming incentive for multinational medical device manufacturers to follow their lead and imitate their products. Once DtM’s product concept becomes the standard, they’re free to focus their resources on other high-burden global health needs that are poorly served by the market.
DtM sees growing evidence of support for their position that international medical device standards are insufficient and often inappropriate for low-resource settings, specifically in the increasing number of government tenders for double-sided phototherapy devices. DtM partner MTTS has applied the lessons we learned together in Firefly to two new CE Mark certified devices, including a novel newborn resuscitation device (the Dolphin CPAP).



Design that Matters combines CEO Timothy Prestero’s experiences in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer and at MIT as an engineering graduate student. Timothy is co-inventor on three pending patents for cholera treatment devices. He is a Martin Fellow at the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, and he was named an Ashoka Affiliate in 2004. His awards include the 2007 Social Venture Network Innovation Award, and the 2009 World Technology Award. Design that Matters’ work received an honorable mention in the ID Magazine’s 2010 Annual Design Review, and the company was a finalist in Corporate Achievement for the 2010 National Design Award.
IMPACT
As of Jan 2020, DtM’s Firefly phototherapy device has treated 320,000 newborns in 26 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. A peer-reviewed control study in Nigeria found that Firefly reduced newborn treatment costs by 80% and the need for expensive high-risk second-line therapies by 89%, compared to competing overhead phototherapy devices.
Products that DtM has helped design and launch have treated 990K patients worldwide.
DtM has recruited more than 1,600 students and professional volunteers. Many alumni have been inspired to focus on social enterprise careers, including the founders of Embrace Innovations, Design for America and Sanergy.
In 2019, DtM partnered with Médecins Sans Frontières to improve services and develop new medical devices for the global population of 60M forcibly displaced people, especially the more than 30M people who have lived in temporary settlements for more than five years.
Design that Matters News
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RT @engineer4change: Join a 5/28 virtual salon: “Open Source and 3D-Printable Medical Equipment Meet Global Shortages”. The lively conversa…
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RT @ASMEishow: Join @engineer4change 5/28 for a virtual salon: “Open Source and 3D-Printable Medical Equipment Meet Global Shortages”. The…
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RT @elizjohansen: Join me May 28 for a free virtual salon about #opensource #medtech hosted by @engineer4change. Hear about the @dtm_tweets…
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RT @engineer4change: Virtual Salon Invitation: Open Source Medical Equipment Meets Global Shortages - https://t.co/ZeTnQv4QTx With @elizjo…
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RT @elizjohansen: Thrilled to see my alma mater, @harveymudd, #3dprinting the @dtm_tweets #faceshield for their #HealthcareHeroes. The HMC…
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A familiar photo from @AP's @tedswarren in the most recent @Economist, in an article on #makers and designers in th… https://t.co/SVxMJYLXkG
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RT @bethannripley: Innovative PAPR hoods made to protect frontline staff from #COVID19 , ready for their journey to @NIOSH for testing. A…
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RT @elizjohansen: Experience designing medical devices for low-resource settings influenced how we designed the DtM-v3 #faceshield for #3dp…
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RT @chrismattmann: @NASAJPL and our team have been working hard to build 3d-printable #respirators and PPE outside of the normal supply cha…
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RT @PCS_News: We donated 175 newly-designed face shields yesterday to #healthcare providers @harborviewmc! Special thanks to GM Nameplate f…
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We just got our copy in the mail, fantastic reference for folks who want to apply #designthinking to #healthcare--e… https://t.co/aWtQFE1wHu
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RT @samhorwich: New commentary from @eliowa @dan_diekema @mike_edmond on community PPE and the use of faceshields in the fight against #COV…
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Paper in @JAMANetwork recommends #faceshields for #community health: "significantly reduces the amount of inhalatio… https://t.co/4QGtk0ahxT
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RT @paulfcurrier: Huge team effort went into telling this story with foremost gratitude to our patient; @PamBelluck for your integrity @Kay…
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Great video showing home fabrication of the DtM-v3.0 #faceshield PPE! https://t.co/tYaDrnpucH
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Go team! Amazed that our @Prusa3D and our @lulzbot3D have held up after more than a month of round-the-clock print… https://t.co/UuD5nOXaUY
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Dr. Andy Homer, Director of the Emergency Department @UWMedicine Valley Medical Center, accepts a donation of… https://t.co/DuO3N3BGpD
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RT @VHAInnovation: Next up... #PAPRhood design and testing from @VAPugetSound @UW @NIH3Dprint @US_FDA @bethannripley #PPE #COVID https://t.…