Due to Dr. Fung’s expertise in 3D printing, he has helped local hospitals including USC-Keck with 3D printing personal protective equipment such as masks, face shields, ventilator parts, and most recently, is heavily involved in the development of COVID19 test swabs.

The following is an excerpt from three articles at USC noting Dr. Fung’s involvement.

There are two ways we can get through the disruption caused by COVID-19, said Lawrence Fung, BS ’07, DDS ’11, MBV ’15.

“We can sit at home and complain and feel sad for ourselves and stress over things,” he said. “Or we can get up and say, ‘You know what? I’m not going to stand by. I’m going to do something.’”

The morning after “shelter in place” orders closed his private dental practice, Fung started thinking about what that “something” would be.

As a U.S. Navy veteran and graduate of USC Marshall’s Master of Business for Veterans (MBV) program, the idea of serving others was second nature to him.

For the past year, he has been using a 3D printer in his practice and doing printing, research and development, and consulting for a printing company. When he saw a news story about ventilator parts being printed for hospitals in Italy, he realized: “This is the way I could help.”

He began making the parts, and tapped his Trojan network on Facebook and LinkedIn. Could someone connect him with the people who could get these parts to the medical professionals who needed them?

“It was amazing to pull from the Trojan Network and get connected to people who I never would have crossed paths with."— Lawrence Fung BS ’07, DDS ’11, MBV ’15

A dentist anesthesiologist George Jaber DDS ’13 had some bad news: The parts were only helpful in Italy. We have different systems in the United States.

“Well, that sucks,” Fung thought. But he quickly pivoted. “What can you guys use?” he asked.

The answer: N95 masks. Fung swung into action.

“It’s really easy to find an object and print it,” Fung said. He found a design for a 3D printed mask on the internet and consulted with Jaber and another important advisor, Henry Wu, BS’08, MD ’12, a fellow member of the USC Board of Governors. After sourcing filters from surgery ventilators,  he had a working prototype in 48 hours.

Point Person

The Trojan Family Network once again has shown its full worth.

In addition to his robust Marshall and veteran community ties, Fung maintains his USC School of Dentistry connections and sits on the Board of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and the USC Board of Governors. He also gives back by serving as the team dentist for USC Athletics.

“It was amazing to pull from the Trojan Network and get connected to people who I never would have crossed paths with,” Fung said. 

For example: Viterbi alumnus Amir Mansouri MS ’13, Ph.D. ’16, co-founder and CEO of SprintRay Inc., a 3D printing company, provided engineering and production support for the project and volunteered to produce more than 1,000 printed parts per day.

Burbank Dental, a dental laboratory that has a partnership with the USC Ostrow School of Dentistry, also provided engineering and production support. “They were gracious enough to retool their dental lab to help 3D print the initial prototypes,” Fung said.

In another example, his network connected him with a manufacturer of parts for fighter jets because their gaskets could be used in his printed masks.

USC alumni and other friends who are CEOs and COOs at local hospitals, including Keck Medicine of USC, gave him feedback and connected him with innovation groups within hospitals.

“They never would have picked up my phone call if it weren’t for the USC network,” Fung said.

Practical Solutions

Just as quickly as he had begun, Fung rolled off the mask project once the mask shortage came under control.

“Even though the design worked, it was not meant to be a replacement for the N95,” he said. “It was meant to bridge the gap, to give providers something until the shipments of N95 came in.”

Here’s why: It takes two hours to print a mask, making scalability difficulty, and the materials are very expensive. It costs $200 to make one mask the way Fung was doing it. The disposable N95 retails for about a dollar a piece.

Fung is not selling what he prints. Like all the Trojans involved in this project, Fung is donating his resources and time. He is simply serving as a point person to get what he makes into the hands of those who need it.

“I’m just connecting people,” he said. “I tell people to donate to the hospital or the manufacturer the hospital get parts from. I have general medical and business expertise, but the hospitals and manufacturers are the experts.”

Everyone Can Help

Now, at the request of local hospitals, Fung is printing face shields and test swabs for COVID-19.

He is heavily involved with Shawn Chapman, leader of the Keck+Sunweaver Creative PPE effort to produce extra PPE for Keck Medicine at USC Hospitals. 

Keck needs help with its COVID Emergency Response Fund. Any donation helps. Whether it’s an individual giving $20 or a rubber supplier donating 100 masks, it all adds up. “It’s the power in numbers,” Fung said.

As Fung pointed out, everyone has the ability to help in any number of ways during these challenging times.

“It could be as simple as checking on a neighbor, or calling someone you haven’t talked to in a while, or asking a UPS delivery person how they are doing,” Fung said. “Little things like that are what I’m hoping to inspire.”

Contact for Lawrence Fung:

Hello@siliconbeach.dental 

A Note from Keck Medicine:

By helping to contribute to our Keck Medicine of USC COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, you will ensure that our essential medical workers can focus on taking care of our community, while knowing that we will take care of them. This fund provides immediate support to protect our healthcare workers with masks, gloves, gowns, testing kits, ventilators and face shields. We are looking for our industry partners to support us with in-kind donations of the essential PPE items mentioned above, or unrestricted gifts that will go towards this fund and supporting the critical needs and shortages we are facing as a health system.

https://www.keckmedicine.org/coronavirus-donate/  (Includes information on the fund as well as a wealth of other information about the virus and our efforts) 

https://ignite.usc.edu/project/20644  (Includes information on the 4 funds the university has set up to respond to COVID efforts)

Original Article Links

https://usctrojans.com/news/2020/3/30/usc-ripsit-blog-trojan-family-steps-up-in-time-of-need.aspx

https://www.marshall.usc.edu/news/power-numbers

https://news.usc.edu/169081/usc-alumni-covid-19-medical-supplies-masks-ppe-doctors-nurses/