At the University of Newcastle, we train engineers capable of solving the world’s greatest challenges. As a medical engineer, you’ll strive to make medical treatment more effective, efficient, safer and affordable, and will be uniquely placed to save and improve lives.

What is medical engineering?

Students who study our medical engineering degree will learn to apply engineering principles and design processes to find innovative solutions to healthcare problems. They bring their creativity, critical thinking, and complex problem solving skills to developing and improving technology and human systems in medical settings. They need to have strong people skills and be particularly adept at working in interdisciplinary teams.

What you will study

Build critical medical and engineering skills by studying through courses in:

• human pathophysiology
• analog and digital communications
• programming and computing
• pharmacology
• electrical engineering design
• neurobiology

Connect with industry through guest lectures and interdisciplinary projects solving real world problems. Gain invaluable practical medical experience through your industry placement.

Become job-ready through our professional practice courses. You'll learn to tackle ‘wicked problems’ and develop essential workplace skills in finance, project management, sustainability, communication and entrepreneurism.

Diversify your skills and engineering degree with an elective pathway, a cluster of courses which can be used to:

• deepen your technical competence in your engineering field
• broaden your expertise in another area of engineering
• learn skills in areas outside engineering, such as business or maths
• study overseas at one of our many partner institutions.

Medical engineers are involved with the design, development, testing and implementation of safe and effective technological solutions for the health and medicine industry. Depending on their area of specialisation, a medical engineer could work with:

• biomechanical devices
• surgical equipment
• nanotechnology drug delivery systems and diagnostic tests
• prosthetic limbs
• artificial organs
• electrical and computing systems relating for radiotherapy, respiration or dialysis

Medical engineers work in hospitals and other medical institutions, health-related manufacturing and technology companies, pharmaceutical companies, and research organisations. Emerging technologies and engineering applications in the medical field, combined with an ageing population are leading to global growth in demand for biomedical engineers.