Rob Dintruff is a faculty member in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Board Member of the Northwestern Global Health Foundation. He lectures on Global Health and provides assistance to the Foundation's projects that are developing diagnostic products that better suit the unique needs of resource-limited settings. Prior to this role, Rob was employed by Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, as the Commercial Development Director for Virology in Abbott's International Division. His career with Abbott and AbbVie spanned 34 years since the completion of his graduate work at the University of Michigan. His assignments have included various production, sales, business development and marketing management positions in both the Diagnostics Division and the International Division.
In a previous position with Abbott that began in 2000, Rob was the Director for Global Care Initiatives where he established and managed the Abbott Access and Determine HIV Testing Donation programs and helped develop Abbott's Step Forward program, an initiative that assists children orphaned by HIV and AIDS in developing nations.
Under the Abbott Access program the antiretroviral drugs developed and marketed by Abbott were provided, at no profit, as part of a second-line therapy to treat people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa and Least Developed Countries. Included in Abbott's offering was the rapid test Determine HIV,also provided at no profit.
The Determine HIV Donation Program provided Abbott's rapid HIV antibody test free of charge in Africa and Least Developed Countries where the product was used to test pregnant women in programs that prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Rob has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. He has worked in cooperation with various stakeholders including the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the International AIDS Society, World Bank, Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, various patient advocacy organizations, and NGOs as well as other companies and governmental organizations engaged in HIV care and treatment.
Students who enroll in KPPI 673-5 in Winter Quarter will automatically be enrolled in KPPI 673-5 in Spring Quarter. Students will earn one credit (.5 in Winter and .5 in Spring) and receive a grade at the end of Spring Quarter. The class meets during the final five weeks of Winter Quarter and the first five weeks of Spring Quarter. Please note: Classes in Winter 2021 meet on Tuesday 6:30pm-9:30pm and in Spring 2021 will meet on Thursdays 6:30pm-9:30pm
The Medical Technologies in Developing Countries course provides students the unique opportunity to inform the design and launch of medical technologies for developing countries by conducting market research. The students' findings will be shared with the developers of the medical technologies, including Northwestern University and several companies and philanthropists.
Prior market research trips have taken place in India, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia, each with a focus on medical technologies such as HIV tests, tuberculosis tests, and neonatal devices for small and sick newborns. This class typically requires a two week market research trip to an African country during Spring Break. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the course will most likely not be traveling physically to a country in Africa this year. Students will be assigned to an Experiential Learning Project providing opportunity for virtual collaboration with partners across multiple African countries. This is the new normal for global health, at least for now. Spring break travel and work will therefore not be required this year.
Students will spend the second five weeks of Winter Quarter in the classroom learning the science of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other high-burden diseases; the background on medical technologies under development; and the essentials for conducting medical product market research in these geographies. Through interactive case studies and prominent guest lecturers, students will gain a holistic understanding and a broad overview of global health. During this time, students will also begin working with product developers from countries across Africa to better understand their products, needs and challenges.
Following this initial coursework, students will spend the next five weeks during the Spring Quarter conducting user interviews both virtually and locally to understand how the medical technologies are perceived by key stakeholders in the market, including: end-users at hospitals and clinics, government officials, and NGOs and distributors. These results will then be analyzed to synthesize key findings and provide recommendations to the developers of these medical technologies.
**Admittance to this course is by application only.**
Your accepted application for this class will also ensure that you will be enrolled in KPPI-673-5 in Spring Quarter.
Students may not drop after the first week of the class.
More information about the application and due dates can be found here