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Dr Michael Spiro and Dr Marc Wittenberg: COVID-19 pandemic

Hear from Dr Michael Spiro and Dr Marc Wittenberg from the Royal Free Hospital, London who led the clinical development of the CoVent ventilator. In conjunction with The Technology Partnership (TTP Plc), they evolved the Government brief and developed a safe and effective ventilator in less than five weeks.

This interview was conducted by Dr Michael Ward in August 2021.

You can listen to the audio recording of the interview now.

Summary

The table below indicates points of particular interest within the interview.

Time code (roughly)	Point of interest
00:01:10	Dr Spiro recalls when he first became aware of Covid, watching it unfold in China and Italy, and his concern.
00:02:45	Dr Spiro describes the simulation training at the Royal Free as well as the admission of the first Covid patient there on the same day, and the PPE that was in use.
00:05:10	Dr Wittenberg talks about when he first became aware of Covid.
00:08:50	Dr Spiro describes the change of patient management over the course of the pandemic. Dr Wittenberg mentions the effects of long-Covid in patients coming for elective surgery.
00:14:00	Dr Spiro talks about the huge personal cost of the pandemic and health care workers’ emotional fatigue.
00:21:35	Dr Spiro and Dr Wittenberg describe how they got involved with TTP Plc to design a ventilator.
00:31:40	Dr Spiro and Dr Wittenberg describe the collaborative process of developing the CoVent, a complex yet user-friendly ventilator for non-specialists.
00:42:15	Dr Spiro talks about their initial meeting with TTP Plc and how a simple line drawing transformed into a useable design of a complex piece of medical equipment.
00:45:15	Dr Wittenberg talks about what he believes will be the legacy of their project.