Rodrigo Fernández De la Torre

Bionic Engineer

Impellere Sanitas. Achieving Children’s Health

My name is Rodrigo Fernandez de la Torre, I am 23 years old and I am a young man studying abroad in Puebla since I come from Mexico City. I am currently studying Bionic Engineering at UPAEP, and I couldn't be more sure that this is my vocation and the right path to find my dreams in the short, medium and long term.

The Federico Gómez Suárez Foundation scholarship has changed my life in ways I could never have imagined, since, from the initial approach to the call from my university, I felt deeply connected with the vision, mission and guidelines of the foundation. This is because the foundation is looking for young engineers with initiative and clear objectives to change the world and improve living conditions for children around the world.

For several years now, I have been working on a technological project that seeks to bring health and medical diagnostic technologies to children in vulnerable conditions, so I developed a biomedical device consisting of a small box in which there is within its contents an electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram, bioimpedance mastograph, spirometer and myograph. All of the above, carried out with a budget of less than two hundred dollars per unit and with the capacity to provide an accurate pre-diagnosis that allows channeling children with possible serious pathologies to specialist doctors who infrequently visit health centers in vulnerable communities, thus making it simpler and more reproducible the extraction of data to treat the different diseases that these children may present.

Thanks to the fact that the foundation was able to identify in me a potential to support children in need around the world, I was able to cover all my university studies starting in the fourth semester, which represents not only a financial support for the complex family and economic situation in Mexico, but beyond the obvious, represents the culmination of my skills, strategies and basic knowledge as an engineer to continue reproducing inventions and devices for the benefit of humanity every day for the common good.

Several years have passed since that achievement that, although it was extremely challenging, was possible, and since then I have worked for the future of that dream and project to make it a reality every day more extensive and applicable. Today, I am a few months away from finishing college, and I can proudly say that I already have two patents in process in the biomedical field, I have developed different prosthetic, orthotic and biomedical devices to help animal and human patients to regain a full quality of life, and I have won three Hackathons that have opened a lot of doors for my future and the future of my project. In addition to this, I had the opportunity to do my internships in large companies such as Forvia, Hospital Angeles, CAE Healthcare and BUAP, and I have added to my engineering studies training in finance, economics and project management to achieve that dream of generating a preventive and effective health system for children in vulnerable situations around Mexico.

Currently, I am a few steps away from continuing my studies towards a postgraduate degree abroad with great possibilities of financial support that will make it possible for me to continue my integral education as an engineer.

There are few words to materialize all that the foundation has made possible for me, but within all my gratitude and affection that I have taken towards the foundation, I can affirm from the heart that all those in search of an opportunity of this caliber, that this goes far beyond financial support, because it means the opportunity to belong to a great family with tools, love and support to help them in the process of achieving their goals.

Today, I would like to advise all those who have applied to become part of the Federico Gómez Suárez Foundation to trust in yourselves and in your project, because something as small as an idea will change your lives completely and more importantly, improve the tools of children whose complex situations place them in vulnerable and unpredictable developmental situations.

Everything is possible once you set your mind to it, and it is time to move towards a future with equal possibilities for all, although it is crucial to act today and leave doubts for yesterday.

"The tools that a few of us can access must spearhead the evolution that the rest of us need."

– Rodrigo Fernández de la Torre