Welcome to the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center

About Us

The Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center (T.E.C.I. Center) is a Stanford Medicine entity formed in March 2018. The center is directed by Carla M. Pugh, MD, PhD, FACS, an internationally recognized surgeon scientist who has received numerous medical and engineering awards for her research on the use of sensors to quantify hands-on clinical skills.

The research and technology development conducted in the T.E.C.I. Center has revealed previously unknown performance metrics regarding mastery in surgical operations and bedside procedures. The T.E.C.I. Center team aims to transform human health and welfare through advances in sensor technology at the point of care supported by data science and personalized, data-driven performance metrics for healthcare providers.



What We Do

Design & Build

The T.E.C.I. Center team is dedicated to the design and implementation of advanced fabrication and engineering methods that facilitate data acquisition relating to clinical performance.

Sensors & Motion Tracking

The T.E.C.I. Center team has had great success in quantifying physicians’ clinical experiences using sensor, video, and motion tracking technologies. This work has resulted in an information rich database that enables the  empirical evaluation of clinical excellence and medical decision making.

Data Science & Clinical Excellence

By leveraging highly specific and objective clinical performance metrics, the T.E.C.I. Center is harnessing the unique opportunity to support peer to peer data sharing and clinical collaborations that can transform the clinical workflow and ultimately benefit healthcare providers.

Connect With Us

 Dr. Carla Pugh's TEDMED Talk 

At TEDMED 2014, Dr. Carla Pugh explores a major missing link in medical education: the effective development of haptic skills. 


Sensor Technology Research Fund

Philanthropic gifts will fund research for the innovative use of sensor technology. The goal of this research is to facilitate high quality care through improved clinical skills training; advancements in digital documentation of clinical procedures and high profile clinical research linking sensor generated data to clinical performance and patient outcomes.

Stanford Medicine

Stanford surgeon and inventor is reinventing the science of touch

Surgeon and inventor Carla Pugh is developing sensor-enabled training tools that are designed to advance the use of touch in diagnostics.

Stanford Graduate School of Education

Education makes for strong medicine: Alumna’s simulation devices transform how physicians learn their profession

Carla Pugh’s frustrations with medical training led her to Stanford Graduate School of Education. She graduated four years later with a plan. By Joyce Gemperlein.

Venture Valkyrie

New Tech Tonics Podcast: Dr. Carla Pugh on Serendipity and the Technology of Touch

Dr. Carla Pugh does a lot of things. She is a trauma surgeon, entrepreneur, researcher and educator and is officially a professor of surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.