McMonty Medihood wins MTPConnect award for Most Substantial Impact in the Australian Health Sector

The world-first isolation hood developed by Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT) researchers to protect hospital patients and staff from the spread of airborne infections like COVID-19 is achieving outstanding recognition for its impact in the health sector.

The development team has received the MTPConnect Biomedical Translation Bridge Program Award for Most Substantial Impact in the Australian Health Sector for the McMonty Medihood.

The Biomedical Translation Bridge program, delivered by MTPConnect, is a $22.3 million Medical Research Future Fund initiative that provided up to $1 million in matched funding to nurture the translation of new therapies, technologies and medical devices through to the proof of concept stage.

The McMonty Medihood was co-developed by Department of Mechanical Engineering Head Professor Jason Monty and his FEIT team, along with Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Associate Professor Forbes McGain in collaboration with Western Health and CSIRO specialists, and is being manufactured by the company Medihood.

The McMonty covers the top half of a hospital bed. A powerful fan-filter unit extracts air filled with aerosols expelled by a patient and removes infectious particles. To ensure patient safety the hood is not airtight and allows for patient comfort and easy access by healthcare workers.

It significantly reduces the risk of infection transmission through particulate matter, resulting in a safer environment for both healthcare workers and patients. Now listed as a medical device on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, the McMonty Medihood is the first commercially available, unsealed, portable and scalable personal isolation solution capable of limiting the spread of respiratory infection within a hospital ward.