{"id":645282,"date":"2025-09-17T18:40:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T22:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=645282"},"modified":"2025-11-19T07:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:58:17","slug":"review-spring-2025-benjamin-castaneda-medical-technology-rural-peru-645282","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/review-spring-2025-benjamin-castaneda-medical-technology-rural-peru-645282\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathing life-saving services into rural communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-embed-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My Rochester Story: Benjam\u00edn Casta\u00f1eda &#039;09 (PhD)\" width=\"1062\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SGMlH8PTA-4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>Professor Benjam\u00edn Casta\u00f1eda \u201909 (PhD) leads a global effort to meet critical needs for medical technology.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The situation in Peru was grim during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The South American country produces very few of its own medical supplies and without adequate equipment to treat patients, it soon had the world\u2019s highest <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.jhu.edu\/data\/mortality\">COVID-19 death rate per capita<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the most critical needs was mechanical ventilators,\u201d says Fabiola Le\u00f3n-Velarde, then-president of Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnolog\u00eda e Innovaci\u00f3n (CONCYTEC), Peru\u2019s equivalent of the National Science Foundation. \u201cThe virus severely damaged the lungs, and many patients required mechanical ventilation to survive while their lungs recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the nation of 33 million people had fewer than 250 mechanical ventilators available to treat patients. When CONCYTEC launched a call for proposals for help creating ventilators and other essential medical services to fight the pandemic, Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/hajim.rochester.edu\/bme\/people\/faculty\/castaneda-benjamin\/index.html\">Benjam\u00edn Casta\u00f1eda<\/a> \u201909 (PhD) from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\">University of Rochester<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/hajim.rochester.edu\/bme\/\">Department of Biomedical Engineering<\/a> answered. Then a professor at Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa (PUCP), one of Peru\u2019s most prestigious universities, Casta\u00f1eda devised a plan to rapidly design and manufacture hundreds of ventilators to support critically ill patients.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe built them from scratch, not knowing anything about mechanical ventilators,\u201d says Casta\u00f1eda. \u201cWe turned PUCP\u2019s gym into a factory and produced 350 for use in 23 hospitals across the country. Peru didn\u2019t have a medical device industry, so this was the first mechanical medical device designed, tested, approved for use, and fabricated in Peru.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_645302\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-645302\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-645302\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19.jpg\" alt=\"Ventilators designed and manufactured in the gym of Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa during the COVID-19 pandemic.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-1680x1120.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-1250x833.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-ventilators-peru-covid-19-660x440.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-645302\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>HEALTH CARE HEROICS:<\/strong> Casta\u00f1eda and his team used the gym at Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa to manufacture 350 ventilators for use in 23 Peruvian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Credit: Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The project is emblematic of Casta\u00f1eda\u2019s career: bringing medical technology to people who would otherwise not have access. Le\u00f3n-Velarde credits Casta\u00f1eda\u2019s leadership in navigating the complex regulatory landscape and bringing together a multidisciplinary team of engineers, medical professionals, and policymakers to make the project happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese ventilators were deployed to public hospitals at a critical time when every additional device meant a chance to save more lives,\u201d she says. \u201cTheir impact went beyond the immediate crisis\u2014they also demonstrated the potential of local scientific and technological innovation in responding to national emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Casta\u00f1eda attended PUCP as an undergraduate, staying active as chair of the university\u2019s student chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By organizing the chapter\u2019s events, he made important contacts with faculty across the globe, including at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he would pursue a master\u2019s in computer engineering.<\/p>\n<p>While at RIT, Casta\u00f1eda found an idol and mentor downriver in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/ece\/people\/faculty\/parker_kevin\/index.html\">Kevin Parker<\/a>, the William F. May Professor of Engineering at Rochester\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\">Hajim School of Engineering &amp; Applied Sciences<\/a>. Soon Casta\u00f1eda enrolled at Rochester to pursue a PhD in electrical and computer engineering.<\/p>\n<p>Casta\u00f1eda developed deep expertise in biomedical ultrasound during his time studying under Parker\u2019s guidance. While completing his dissertation on extracting information from sonoelastography, a novel hybrid imaging technique developed by Parker\u2019s lab, Casta\u00f1eda weighed opportunities in the United States and back home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_645392\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-645392\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-645392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15.jpg\" alt=\"Two people seen from behind walking into a small, makeshift health clinic in rural Peru.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-340x191.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-proyectosveo.pucp_.edu_.pe-images-foto15-660x371.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-645392\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>FARTHEST REACHES:<\/strong> In the mountains and jungles of Peru, there is limited access to the internet and medical professionals. \u201cDesigning technology for rural areas is much different than designing for state-of-the-art university medical centers,\u201d says Casta\u00f1eda. (Credit: Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to make an impact on society,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though I would have many opportunities in the US as a PhD, I felt that going back to Peru would allow me to make a bigger impact, even if I had access to fewer resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He discussed establishing a medical-imaging laboratory with PUCP and began teaching summer courses there in 2008. A grant from a Peruvian network of universities allowed Casta\u00f1eda to travel the country, learning about its health care needs and identifying ways to apply his expertise.<\/p>\n<p>That is when he first saw rural areas as a potential niche for his research. In Peru\u2019s mountains and jungles, there is limited access to the internet and medical professionals. Indeed, it can take hours of difficult travel to reach the nearest hospitals.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pullquote\"><span style=\"font-size: 400%;\">\u201c<\/span>Coming back to Rochester gives me the opportunity to still focus on low-resource settings and global health but with more means at my disposal.\u201d<\/div>\n<p>\u201cDesigning technology for rural areas is much different than designing for state-of-the-art university medical centers,\u201d says Casta\u00f1eda. \u201cYou have to take into account the resources that are available and what is not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When he joined the PUCP faculty in 2009, he focused his lab on creating point-of-care medical devices that work in rural settings. By augmenting biomedical ultrasound technology with photogrammetry and artificial intelligence techniques, they were able to help diagnose and treat chronic ailments prevalent in such places in Peru, including diabetic feet, tuberculosis, and wounds caused by parasitic diseases.<\/p>\n<p>Casta\u00f1eda climbed the ranks to full professor at PUCP, served as director of academic affairs for the School of Science and Engineering, and launched an undergraduate program in biomedical engineering. All the while, he maintained research collaborations with Parker and partners at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\">University of Rochester Medical Center<\/a>, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112361953-thomas-j-marini\">Thomas Marini<\/a>, an assistant professor in the Department of Imaging Sciences.<\/p>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic grew interest in tele-ultrasound research, so Casta\u00f1eda expanded an ambitious project with hopes of bringing prenatal and breast-cancer imaging to millions of women in rural Peru. The lack of ultrasound access leads to high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality as well as delayed diagnosis of breast cancer.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_645332\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-645332\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-645332\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131.jpg\" alt=\"Close up of computer screens, a smart phone, and hands demonstrating ultrasound scanning protocol on a silicone-based composite breast.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-1680x1120.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-1250x833.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_CastanCC83eda_0131-660x440.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-645332\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>ULTRASOUND EFFECT:<\/strong> Casta\u00f1eda and his team are working to bring prenatal and breast-cancer ultrasound imaging to millions of women in rural Peru, where it can take hours of difficult travel to reach the nearest hospitals. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Casta\u00f1eda formed a team that included collaborators from the Medical Center and Johns Hopkins Medicine. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112361242-kathryn-j-drennan\">Kathryn Drennan<\/a>, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, joined three years ago, intrigued by the parallel challenges in her home state of Alaska, where many rural towns are only accessible by bush plane or boat.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than having patients travel long distances to receive care or deploying specialists to sparsely populated areas where needs are infrequent, the project leverages generally trained community health workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can do a broad variety of tasks, so the idea is that through augmented reality\u2013assisted training plus an AI boost, they can get the images that allow qualified physicians to remotely triage while the patients stay local,\u201d says Drennan.<\/p>\n<p>Already the project has impacted thousands of lives, deploying the technology in 24 Peruvian clinics through partnerships with the Peruvian government, perinatal and cancer institutes, and local universities. The team is pursuing further funding to refine the technology and expand its implementation throughout the country via public policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBen is so smart in the way he can imagine an idea, bring a team together, and make everybody feel good about accomplishing that goal,\u201d says Drennan. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_645312\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-645312\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-645312\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327.jpg\" alt=\"Members of the Casta\u00f1eda Lab pose in formation for a group photo.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-1680x1120.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-1250x833.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/inline-2025-02-14_Ben_Castaneda_0327-660x440.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-645312\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>ENGINEERS ASSEMBLE:<\/strong> (left to right) Members of Casta\u00f1eda\u2019s lab, including Emilio Ochoa, a biomedical engineering PhD student; Naomi Guevara, a biomedical engineering PhD student; Casta\u00f1eda; Maria Helguera, an adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering; Paula Lopez Fagundez \u201927; and Augustina Duarte \u201927. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Casta\u00f1eda joined the Rochester faculty in fall 2024, establishing the Global Health and Medical Devices Lab. \u201cIn Peru, I was at a stage in which I had reached a ceiling,\u201d he says. \u201cComing back to Rochester gives me the opportunity to still focus on low-resource settings and global health but with more means at my disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Already, he has established a new three-year collaborative research agreement between Rochester and PUCP to advance the ultrasound project and promote exchanges of faculty as well as undergraduate and graduate students. Stefano Romero, one of Casta\u00f1eda\u2019s first students at PUCP and now a professor and head of the Digital Signal Processing Lab there, was the first to come to Rochester through the agreement in February.<\/p>\n<p>For three months at Rochester, Romero will conduct ultrasound and elastography experiments to refine the AI techniques that identify potential lesions. He believes Casta\u00f1eda\u2019s leadership is a boon to both universities.\u201cWe want to preserve these connections between the universities for generations of students,\u201d Romero says. \u201cWe\u2019re building exciting opportunities for students from both Rochester and Peru to see different perspectives on health outcomes that we believe will be transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>A version of this story appears in the spring 2025 issue of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/pr\/Review\/archive\/\">Rochester Review<\/a><em>, the magazine of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/index.html\">University of Rochester<\/a>. This story, originally published online on April 4, 2025, has been updated with the video and republished.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Professor Benjam\u00edn Casta\u00f1eda \u201909 (PhD) leads a global effort to meet critical needs for medical technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1242,"featured_media":667712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41112,42472],"tags":[42,24292,18742,19382,19242,18632,22532,41872,18432,41012],"class_list":["post-645282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","category-health-medicine","tag-alumni","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-department-of-biomedical-engineering","tag-department-of-electrical-and-computer-engineering","tag-global-engagement","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-kevin-parker","tag-my-rochester-story","tag-school-of-medicine-and-dentistry","tag-videos"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breathing life-saving services into rural 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