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ENGINEERING STAFF
Merwin
J. "Jerry" Hansen, Chairman &
CEO
Mr. Hansen has been in the medical field since 1977. Over
a period of ten years, he was instrumental as VP marketing
and sales, and later as CEO in the establishment of Humphrey
Instruments as the leading high tech instrument company in
eye care. He moved from Humphrey and became the CEO of the
international division of Santen Pharmaceutical - a major ophthalmic
pharmaceutical company with $800 million in annual revenues.
He served as the Santen International CEO for ten years and
served as a member of the board of directors of the Tokyo Stock
Exchange listed parent company for six years. He has also served
on the board of directors of several privately held companies
specializing in medical devices or ethical pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Hansen has been responsible for the development and successful
world wide commercialization of innovative diagnostic instruments
and surgical devices, as well as the development and worldwide
commercialization of new prescription pharmaceutical products.
He holds a BSME degree from U.C. Berkeley.
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Michael
Forman, President & COO
Mr. Forman has 25 years experience in developing medical devices
in the areas of interventional cardiology, interventional neuroradiology,
oncology and urology. Mr. Forman is an experienced engineering
executive and an active medical device inventor and entrepreneur
with 31 patents.
Mr. Forman’s areas of technical expertise include:
- Laser System Design
- Optical System Design
- Laser Processing of Polymers
- Design of Disposable Devices for Radiation Treatment
- Micromanipulator Design
- Catheter Design (cardiology and neuroradiology)
- Balloon Design
Mr. Forman has extensive experience in conducting Risks & Hazards
analysis for complex products.
Mr. Forman is active in helping companies with Patent Application
Development.
Mr. Forman is co-founder of Xoft microTube, a developer of x-ray
catheters for the treatment of breast cancer. Mr. Forman holds
a B.S. in Physics from U.C. Santa Cruz.
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Ken
McCuen, Chief Technical Officer/Electrical Engineering
Mr. McCuen has more than 25 years experience in managing medical
device product development, as well as semiconductor and instrumentation
products and projects. Ken brings experience in successful
project management, with a track record of on time delivery
and performance to budget. At Circle he has a "hands on" management
style where he works intimately with an eclectic and dedicated
team of electrical engineers and technicians. Ken has an extensive
background in designing for compliance with UL, CSA, CE, and
FCC regulatory agencies. Ken’s areas of technical expertise
include:
- Embedded SW Instrumentation & Control Systems
- Design of EKG Circuits
- Ambulatory Patient Monitoring & Data Recording Systems
- Design of RF Electrosurgical Units
- High Power and High Temperature Control Circuits
- Cryogenic Systems
- Implanted Instruments
- Temperature Measurement & Control
Mr. McCuen holds a B.S.E.E. from San Jose State University. He
has two patents related to instrumentation and control systems.
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Daniel Mufson, Chief
Scientific Officer
Daniel Mufson has 40 years experience in the development and
registration of drug, device, combination and biological products.
Skilled in creating and leading multi-disciplined, technical
teams to create new drug delivery technologies and products—he
built Liposome Technology and Alexza MDC into successful drug
delivery companies. He is President of APOTHERX® LLC
a product development and regulatory consultancy in Napa, CA
and is currently guiding R&D for a start-up ophthalmic drug
delivery company.Most recently he served as Chief Scientific
Officer of Alexza Molecular Delivery Corporation where he led
the development of Staccato™ thermally generated aerosols
and directed the Company to its first IND. He helped to found
Molecular Delivery Corp. which merged with Alexza, founded by
Alex Zaffaroni, in 2002.
For 10 years he headed APOTHERX providing product development
expertise to numerous start-up and global pharma companies including
Cusi (Alcon), DepoMed, ISIS, Japan Tobacco, Ligand, Neurex (Elan),
Novartis, Q.P. Fine Chemicals (Kewpie), Santen and St. Jude Medical.
He was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Vice
President for R&D at Liposome Technology, Inc. (ALZA/JNJ)
where he led development to the first INDs for inhalation and
ophthalmic products. Dr. Mufson was Director of Pharmacy R & D
at Revlon Health Care Research (Aventis) and had worked for Smith
Kline & French Laboratories (GSK) and for Parke Davis & Co.
(Pfizer). Dr. Mufson received his Doctorate in Pharmaceutical
Chemistry from the University of Michigan and his B.S. and M.S.
degrees in Pharmacy from Columbia University. He is a Fellow
of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He
recently completed a chapter, Integrated Drug Product Development—From
Lead Candidate Selection to Life-Cycle Management for The Process
of New Drug Discovery and Development (Second Edition), editors
Charles G. Smith and J.T. O’Donnell, CRC Press, in-press
(2005).
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Gery Carlson, CFO
Mr. Carlson has over 30 years of experience in public accounting,
internal auditing, and senior finance roles in Silicon Valley. He
brings a hands-on financial management style to several areas
of the company, including financial reporting, financial planning
and budgeting, cash management, human resources management, and
facilities management. From 2000 until September 2006,
Gery was the Corporate Controller and later the Vice President,
Finance and Corporate Controller for Azerity, located in Milpitas,
California. During his years with Azerity his responsibilities
were expanded beyond finance to encompass Human Resources, Facilities,
Legal and IT. Azerity went through a successful acquisition
in 2006. Prior to Azerity, Gery spent 22 years as a CPA
principal in public practice in San Jose, California, working
with a variety of companies in the bay area. Mr. Carlson
has worked as an internal auditor with a major defense contractor
and performed work for the Defense Contract Audit Agency. Gery
has also taught several finance related courses for the California
State Bar Association.
Mr. Carlson holds BSC and JD degrees from the University of
Santa Clara.
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Simon Hawksworth, Vice
President of Sales & Marketing
Simon Hawksworth has 18 years experience in sales and marketing
in the field of design and manufacturing outsourcing - working
for 15 years in the field of medical devices. From 1995
to 2002 he worked at Maxtek Components Corporation and served
in a variety of positions from Business Development Manager through
Sales Director and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The
primary focus of this business was the design and manufacturing
of complex microelectronics subassemblies for the Medical, Military
and Test & Measurement industry. In 2002 he joined HEI, Inc
as Vice president of Sales and Marketing and was instrumental
in taking this Medical Device Outsourcing Company from $20 to
$56M in revenue in three years. Simon has focussed
on developing effective relationships with Medical Device OEMs.
He is responsible for: Sales & Marketing Strategy, New Business
Development, Account Management and Marketing Communications.
Mr.
Hawksworth holds a BA in Business from Southbank University in
London and an MBA from the University of Westminster in London.
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Robert Short, VP of
Research & Development
Robert has over 25 years experience in R&D and product development
within the medical device, pharmaceutical, and personnel protection
equipment industries. His eclectic background includes
development of liquid cooled garments for medical applications,
development and testing of innovative spacesuit components, development
of diagnostic ultrasound contrast media, and creation of ultrasound
mediated drug delivery systems. His technical expertise
includes microencapsulation, emulsions and dispersions, particle
size measurement, lyophilization of pharmaceuticals, medical
ultrasound, personnel barometric and heat protection systems,
fluid mechanics, and plastics processing. Robert
has experience in project management as a director in several
companies including Life Support Systems, Rasor Associates, Microsome,
and POINT Biomedical Corporation. His background in the
management and implementation of government contracts for NIH,
NASA, and DOD, with their strict requirements for adherence to
budgetary and schedule tracking controls, has instilled in Robert
a strong sense of project discipline which is applied to all
his efforts.
Robert is an inventor on 9 issued US patents with
several others pending and is author on nearly 30 technical reports
and publications. He
holds a BSME from Purdue University, an MSME from the University
of Washington, and has completed project management courses offered
by the AMA.
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Eric Rudie, General Manager, Minneapolis Office
Mr. Rudie has over 18 years of experience in R&D and product development within the medical device industry. Mr. Rudie was the first employee of Urologix Inc., developer of a minimally invasive microwave technology to treat BPH. He has successfully lead technology development and product development staff and projects, and he has also been responsible for the patent portfolio at two different companies. His experience includes:
- Analog/RF/microwave circuits, systems and antennas
- Tissue ablation and thermodynamic modeling of tissue heating and cell death
- Fiberoptic and leaded thermometry
- Transit-time ultrasound for fluid flow measurement
- MEMS pressure sensing die
- Implantable telemetry
- Implantable physiologic sensing of respiration, blood flow, blood pressure, EKG, EMG, Bio-Impedance, motion, etc…
- Designing and conducting clinical and pre-clinical studies and in preparing and writing FDA submissions
- Intellectual property strategy, development, maintenance, and defense
Mr. Rudie has a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University. He is an inventor of 26 granted U.S. patents and 4 published patent applications, is an author on 11 technology and scientific papers, and has been an invited speaker at the University of Minnesota’s Design of Medical Devices conference. Mr. Rudie’s continuing education studies have included Voice of the Customer training, Project Management training, Oz Principles training, The Engineer as Manager, and Advanced Cardiac Physiology and Anatomy.
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Ali Hassan MD, Director
Biodesign
Ali Hassan is a clinical scientist, inventor and an entrepreneur.
Dr. Hassan's research involves vascular disease,
catheter-based techniques, imaging, and the clinical assessment
of medical devices. Dr. Hassan has numerous publications in the
field of cardiovascular medicine, and has acted as an investigator
in large, multi-center clinical trials. Dr. Hassan has also been
active in development of medical devices since 1995: He holds
several cardiovascular device patents; most prominently is the
Differential Density Stent, the TrakBack-TM Pullback Device,
and a system of organ isolation for interventional therapies.
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Rajiv Gupta, Instrument
Division Director
Rajiv has over 20 years of extensive experience in managing
innovation portfolios and development of new products from concept
to manufacturing. He has successfully provided solutions and
taken concurrent products from concept to manufacture with product
differentiation, maximizing ROI and gaining competitive advantages
for the clients. Most recent experience includes 9 years in the
design, development and management of medical Instruments for
IVD, Life Science R&D and Drug Discovery fields. He has worked
on a broad range of projects from generic robot development (to
create off the shelf “OTS” plug and play robots),
to the complete automation of clinical and research lab instruments.
Rajiv holds a B.E. Honors in Mechanical Engineering from MSU
Baroda, India and a Post Graduate certificate in Innovation Management
(PCIM) from University of Melbourne, Australia. He has 3 current
patent applications.
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Kimberly Marquez, Director
of Quality Assurance
Kimberly has over 9 years of experience in product development
and operations for medical devices. She has worked extensively
on device development for minimally invasive cardiac surgery
procedures at Boston Scientific, Guidant and Heartport. For
5 years she led product development teams taking concepts through
market release. Her operations experience includes working
as a manufacturing engineer providing process development and
incorporating Design for Manufacturing prior to product launch. Most
recently she was a commodity manager in the supply chain organization
of a major medical device corporation developing supplier quality
improvement plans and optimizing supplier contracts. Kimberly
started her career as a packaging engineer and has developed
packaging and labeling for sterile devices and large capital
equipment. While leading development teams, she has provided
packaging engineering expertise and ensured that thorough validations
and aging studies were conducted for all projects.
Ms. Marquez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Packaging
Engineering from Michigan State University.
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Chuck
Schwimmer, Director of Industrial Design
Chuck has 30 years of experience in product development, specializing during the past 9 years in the design and development of medical devices. His medical device experience includes an extensive range of devices including catheter control devices, standard x-ray and mammography systems, ablation systems, infusion pumps, patient diagnostics and monitoring systems, and biopsy tools. Chuck’s project involvement includes industrial design, human factors engineering, and mechanical engineering in addition to project management. He has substantial experience in medical device labeling including IFUs and labels, and in the development of packaging for sterile, single-use devices and durable devices. Chuck has previously held roles of Director of Design and Human Factors, and Director of Product Development.
Mr. Schwimmer has 11 issued patents and one current application. He holds a B.S. in Design from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago IL.
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Anand Ram, Senior
R&D
Engineer
Mr. Ram has over 25 years of experience in the medical
device industry. He is highly innovative engineering professional
with extensive experience in broad range of catheter engineering
including critical care (dialysis catheters), cardiology, urology,
neurology, and specialty catheters such as chorion biopsy catheters,
in-vitro fertilization catheters, CVP catheters, billiary drainage
catheters and catheter based delivery systems. Mr. Ram’s
career began as a production supervisor at Vas-Cath where he
later held various leadership positions within the organization
such as Lab supervisor and R&D supervisor. Mr. Ram lead
nylon balloon development at Vas-Cath where he designed and
produced thin-walled nylon balloon-expandable stent delivery
systems and double-layer, high pressure nylon balloon angioplasty
catheters which are currently sold by C.R. Bard Inc. Mr. Ram
then joined Novoste Corporation as Staff Engineer and led a
team of engineers to redesign their ‘Beta’ radiation
delivery system for vascular brachytherapy. He further designed
a delivery system to treat atrial fibrilation and atrial flutter.
Mr. Ram then joined Shakti Medical technologies as a Program
Manager to develop novel technology for mitral valve repair.
He is skilled in leading and providing support to large and
complex projects.
Mr Ram is a co-inventor of Balloon Angioplasty
Patent # 5015230 and has several patents pending. He holds a
Diploma in Civil Engineering from City and Guilds of London Institute,
Great Britain and a Diploma in Medical and Surgical Instrumentation
from Humber College, Toronto, Canada.
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Adam Matthew Jones, Sr.
Project Manager & Mechanical Engineer
Mr. Jones has brought creativity and organization to product
development and mechanical design engineering for eight years. His
engineering experience is focused in minimally invasive systems
and ranges from proof of concept prototype design and creation
to life testing, problem diagnosis and redesign of production
units. Adam’s leadership experience includes directing
multiple cross functional development teams of mechanical, electrical,
biomedical and software engineers and technicians for domestic
and international clients. He has participated in and directed
projects including an automated catheter based cardiac aspiration
system, a catheter delivery system for a left ventricle pacing
implant and a point-of-care diagnostic instrument with consumable.
Before engaging in medical devices design, Mr. Jones taught
Math and Science in California public schools for six years including
service as Math Department Chairperson.
Mr. Jones holds a MS in Mechanical Engineering and MBA from
California Polytechnic State University, SLO. His teaching credential
in Math and Economics was earned from UC Berkeley graduate school
of Education, and his BA in Business Economics was attained at
UC Santa Barbara. All degrees awarded with honors.
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Jim McCrea, Principal
Engineer
Mr. McCrea is a Principal Engineer with an expertise in product
development and design for manufacturing. Recent projects which
Mr. McCrea has led include an adjustable annuloplasty ring for
the mitral valve, a Jet Injector for mass immunization, and a
catheter based pacing device delivery system. In addition, Mr.
McCrea has experience with injection molded plastics, sheet metal
chassis design, machine design, and motion control of automated
systems.
Mr. McCrea holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California
State University, Long Beach and has three U.S. issued patents.
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James Badia, Senior Mechanical Engineer
Mr. Badia has 10 years experience as a Mechanical Engineer.
Two of those years were with Arterial Vascular Engineering
(currently Medtronic) as an Engineer Intern in the catheter
division. James has been with CMD since September 2005, and
has provided both engineering design and project management
for catheters, suturing devices, implantable cardiac devices,
implantable spinal devices, insulin pumps, and imaging console
projects. For 5 years James was a Process Engineer for an automotive
OEM which supplied automatic transmissions to Toyota. At Cal
Poly, James won the prize of 1st runner up at the California
State University Research and Design Competition, for the design
and manufacture of a working recumbent bicycle. His engineering
experience includes concept/prototype design, design for manufacture,
and high volume production utilizing the Toyota Production
System.
Mr. Badia received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering
from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo.
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Ravin Patel, Sr.
Mechanical Engineer
Ravin has 15 years of product design experience with
the last seven dedicated to medical devices. He has experience
in all facets of device development including research and development,
prototype design and testing, clinical trials and transfer to
manufacturing. He has been involved in the development
of over a dozen successful devices including a catheter based
therapeutic cooling console, a cryoplasty delivery system, an
ambulatory patient monitoring and recording system, an endobronchial
aspiration console and an ocular drug delivery lens.
Ravin
holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Santa Clara University.
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Steve Woodard, Principal
R&D Engineer
Steve is widely regarded as an innovative R&D engineer who
provides elegant solutions to difficult problems.
He has led the development of numerous products including endoscopy
tools, electrosurgery tools, guided catheters, glucose monitoring
devices, and a variety of high performance optical measurement
systems. His management experience includes taking eight
capital equipment development programs from concept to production
and establishing three manufacturing lines overseas.
Areas of emphasis include:
- A Holistic, Strategy-Based Design Methodology
- Design of Small, Complex, and High-Precision Mechanisms
- Machine Design
- Manufacturing Process Development, Implementation, and Qualification
Mr. Woodard is an alumnus of UC Davis (BSME) and Santa Clara
University (MSME).
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Anthony Jones, Director, Manufacturing and Design
Transfer
Anthony has more than 15 years of medical device experience in a variety of roles in product development, operations and engineering. He developed an extensive background in project management, process validation, supply chain management, lean manufacturing and design control. At Guidant Corporation he was responsible for leading process improvement and manufacturing transfer teams throughout the Guidant family of companies, with a primary focus on increasing speed to market and reducing cost. Most recently, he worked for J&J, Abbott Diabetes Care and several startup companies, where he served in roles with increasing levels of responsibility as Sr. Quality Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Engineering Manager and Director of Operations. He has experience on a broad range of products, including balloon angioplasty devices, cardiac surgery tools, nitinol implantable devices, automatic anastomosis systems, COPD screening and treatment devices, and blood glucose meters. At Circle Medical Devices, Anthony is responsible for developing manufacturing strategies for new products and for successful transition of those products from the research laboratory to the production floor.
Mr. Jones holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. In addition, he served 22 years in the United States Air Force active duty and reserves, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
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Thomas Brennan-Marquez, Senior Software Engineer
Mr. Brennan-Marquez has over 30 years of real time software development experience. He has built software systems in several disparate fields, including:
- Medical Devices (implantable cardiac devices and external programmers)
- Pharmaceutical Discovery (automated compound synthesis)
- Biotechnology (DNA sequencer and protein synthesis robots)
- Semiconductor Fabrication (plasma etchers/strippers)
Having seen software projects in all these technologies beset by similar problems and delays, Thomas is a strong advocate of more discipline and more formal methods in software development, specifically pushing for wider adoption of a few relatively new software technologies to address these problem areas:
- Model-driven software development
- Formal testing regimes and regression testing
- Increased automation at all levels of the software development process
Mr. Brennan-Marquez holds a BA degree in Physics from U.C. Berkeley.
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Betsy Gutierrez, Quality Systems Manager
Betsy
has over 8 years of leadership experience in both Quality and
Operations roles within the Medical Device Industry. Throughout
her career she gained a broad Compliance background and extensive
auditing experience. She has managed multiple design
transfer projects and several international product line transfers. Betsy
also has extensive experience in managing and implementing
Lean Manufacturing practices. Prior to joining Circle
Medical Devices, Ms. Gutierrez served as a QA consultant at
Acclarent Inc. and as QA Manager at LuMend (a J&J
company). Before joining LuMend, Betsy served in a number
of positions with increasing responsibility at Edwards Lifesciences,
including Quality Section Manager, Engineering Section Manager
and Supply Chain Manager.
Ms. Gutierrez received her Bachelor’s
degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from Pontificia
Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic.
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Kirsten Luehrs,
Project Manager
Kirsten has over 15 years of experience in the
medical device industry. She has held project management and mechanical
design engineering positions at major corporations, including
Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Westinghouse, as well as
smaller and start-up companies including Fogarty Engineering,
AneuRx and Nitinol Devices and Components.
To date, Kirsten is
an inventor on 18 issued US patents, and 11 published US patent
applications, which include stent grafts, stents, delivery catheters,
sheaths and Nitinol wireform device innovations. Product development experience and interest
include various disease states, such as peripheral vascular,
structural heart, urology, gynecology, neurology, general surgery
and health care related consumer products. She has experience
in project management through schedule, budget and internal and
external resource management, as well as experience in product
development through clinical and client input, market research,
hands on design, prototyping and testing.
Ms. Luehrs holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, a Product Design MS in engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Gadi Lewkonya, Sr. Mechanical Engineer
Mr. Lewkonya has 12 years of mechanical engineering experience with the past 9 years specifically in R&D for Medical and Life Science devices. Some of Gadi’s medical device development experience includes:
- Imaging catheter development (IVMRI Catheter) including:
- Probe – design, materials specification, and design for manufacturing (DFM)
- Delivery System – design and DFM
- Low pressure balloon design and materials specification
- Continuous Glucose Monitoring for ICUs (Optimus)
- Responsible for all mechanical development
- Developed IP for blood drawing & returning protocol, blood dosing, & chemistry testing automation.
- Therapy Needless Injection (Airgent).
- Inventor of pneumatic and mechanical systems with patents pending
- Designed for large scale manufacturing
Gadi is well versed in design for injection molded plastics, sheet metal, machining, and etching & coating methods (plastic and metal). He has extensive experience in the design of product mechanisms, and products integrating high voltage, RF (imaging) and fluid control (IV and injection) technologies.
Mr. Lewkonya holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering with honors from Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and has five U.S. issued patents.
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Abhishek Krishnamurthy, Embedded
Software Engineer
Abhishek has 5 years of experience in embedded systems software
engineering. He brings expertise in the area of multi-disciplinary
testing from his work at Honeywell Inc. where he was involved
in testing fiber optic gyroscope electronics and optical components.
He has also worked in developing the full life-cycle development
of new mobile products as part of the Howard Industries Group’s Computers
Division. As a computer engineering graduate he was involved
in developing embedded, real-time sensor data processing software
for a prototype optical slip-ring application as part of a Physics
research group funded by NASA. His experience also encompasses:
- Software testing and verification
- ASIC development
- VHDL and Verilog testing
Mr. Krishnamurthy has received a Bachelor of Science in Computer
Engineering and a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from
the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
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Luis Baez, Mechanical Engineer
Mr. Baez has 3 years of experience in medical device development
and manufacturing. His experience comes from work on a broad
range of devices including intravascular ultrasound imaging
systems, OCT imaging systems, various minimally invasive GI
devices, minimally invasive electrosurgical devices and cardiovascular
catheters. His areas of expertise include:
- R&D testing and design
- Electro-mechanical design
- Electrosurgical design
- Laser welding process development
- Manufacturing process development
- Verification and validation
- Fixture design and fabrication
Mr. Baez has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from
San Jose State University and is EIT certified.
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James Walton, Senior
R&D Model Maker
Mr. Walton has more than 20 years of prototyping
experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries.
His professional career began at Syntex Pharmaceuticals manufacturing
unique R&D
equipment. He then spent seven years with Molecular Devices
prototyping the SpectraMax Micro plate reader platforms and Microphysimeter.
At Caliper Life Sciences, he helped to develop the company's
in-house prototyping capabilities to aid in the development of
a Lab-On-Chip Drug Discovery System. Mr. Walton's expertise is
in precision manual and CNC milling and turning, mechanical design
and materials.
Mr. Walton has an Airframe & Powerplant certification
from the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Ying Yang, Senior
Chemist
Ms. Yang has 12 years of experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. She was the key contributor in the development of a biodegradable ocular implant for glaucoma treatment. She has experience in sterilization and sterilization validation, material selection, biocompatibility testing, cleaning, accelerated aging and packaging validation strategies for a variety of medical devices including heart valves, catheters, chemical sensors for emergency use, biopolymer ocular implants, and endo-surgical tools. Her extensive background in the pharmaceutical industry involved novel drug and drug delivery development from the R&D phase to Clinical Phase IV studies. She has worked on modern instrumental analysis of pharmaceuticals (aerosol, liquid, and solid dosage), analytical method development and validation, formulation, clean-room manufacturing, as well as quality controls under cGMP. Ms. Yang was a project manager at a major pharmaceutical company, leading the development of a top priority project. She was a key contributor to 1 European patent and 3 U.S. patents under filing.
Ms. Yang received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from Nanjing University, China, and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Oregon State University
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Sherry Zhang, Chemist
Ms. Zhang has worked on a wide range of projects including
development of advanced high power lithium-ion batteries, project
lead by the US department of Energy and the three US car companies,
characterization of polymer and drug delivery system for Dow
Chemical Company, studies on biological or biomaterials specimens
such as environmental biofilms, development of analytical apparatus
including the In-situ electrochemical cell for scanning transmission
X-ray microscope at the beam line 5.3.2 at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab, quantum chemical modeling of electrolyte reduction
and oxidation mechanisms, and development of nano composites.
Ms. Zhang received her B.S. degree in both Chemistry and Mathematics
from Eastern Oregon University, and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Oregon
State University. She then did her postdoctoral at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Lab.
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Colin Tan, System
Engineer
Mr. Tan is a biomedical system engineer with four years of
experience in the product design and development of medical
devices. His experience includes taking projects from concept
and design through to clinical trials and manufacturing. He
has managed and worked on a diverse range of projects from
tissue engineering of vascular substitutes to ocular implants,
glucose monitoring, orthopedic, and cardiovascular products. In
addition to ocular implants, Mr. Tan worked with the biomedical
engineering group at ALZA/JNJ on their new ocular drug delivery
and imaging technologies. Mr. Tan also has experience in business
development with the biomedical division at the Economic Development
Board in Singapore.
Mr. Tan received his B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering
from Northwestern University and his M.S. degree in Bioengineering
from Stanford University.
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Katherine Stephenson, Mechanical
Engineer
Ms. Stephenson has worked on a range of mechanical design
problems for the medical device industry for the last five
years, and designed opto-mechanical systems for the telecommunications
industry for three years prior to that. Her projects have included
several steerable cardiac catheters, long term cardiac implants,
various devices for glucose monitoring, and orthopedic surgical
tools. Her design experience covers the entire medical device
package, from core device mechanisms to manufacturing fixtures
to final packaging. In her spare time she is a volunteer coach
and manager of a martial arts program for children with a wide
range of physical and developmental delays.
Ms. Stephenson has
a B.S. in Product Design and an M.S. in Biomechanical Engineering
from Stanford University.
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Ruth Costa, Mechanical
Engineer
Ms. Costa has worked for two years in the medical device industry,
on devices including cardiovascular catheters, RF and mechanical
GI catheters, and implantable cardiac devices. She has
experience in all phases of product development, from concept
generation and prototyping through design verification testing
and clinical build supervision. Her engineering expertise
includes mechanism design, electrosurgical design, laser weld
process development, verification testing, and technical writing.
Ms. Costa graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. degree
in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. degree in Mechanical
Engineering with a focus on the design of electro-mechanical
systems.
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Asheesh Divetia, Biomedical
Engineer
Dr. Divetia is a biomedical engineer with experience in research
and development of implantable medical devices. He has worked
with the Diabetes division at Medtronic on the development of
implantable glucose sensors. He also has experience with development
of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), thin films processing
and integration of polymers with traditional micro-fabrication
techniques. His doctoral dissertation focused on the development
of implantable and self-regulated drug delivery systems. He has
authored several peer-reviewed technical papers and holds a patent
application for a novel drug delivery system.
Dr. Divetia holds a
M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of
California, Irvine and a BSEE from Indian Institute of Technology,
Bombay.
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Phong T. Chau, Mechanical
Engineer
Mr. Chau has 1 year of experience in medical device development
and manufacturing. He has been involved with manufacturing process
development, verification and validation, fixture design and
fabrication, and design of experiments. At UCSD, Phong worked
in the Microhemodynamic and Microbiology laboratories After graduation,
Phong worked in the Pharmaceutical industry prior joining Circle
Medical.
Mr. Chau has a BS in BioEngineering with a minor in mathematics
from the University of California, San Diego.
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Shuo-Hsiu (Sosho) Chang, Mechanical
Engineer
Mr. Chang is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley. As an intern
in Hospira’s R&D department, Mr. Chang characterized
and developed a line of drug delivery systems, and at the UCSF
Orthopedic Surgery Lab he analyzed the fracture characteristics
of human vertebrae. In addition, Mr. Chang has industry experience
in fluid flow analysis for the power generation industry, and
research experience developing automotive oils at UC Berkeley’s
Surface Mechanics Tribology Lab.
Mr. Chang has a
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering
from the University of California, Berkeley.
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ZiHan Lin, Systems Engineer
Zi is a recent graduate
from Stanford University. As a student, he was involved in
various medical device projects - insulin inhaler, rhinoplasty
nasal retainer, and measurement of stent mal-apposition. His
research areas include neural stem cells and ablation catheters.
He also provided engineering support as R&D intern at FoxHollow Technologies and as R&D
mechanical engineer at ForSight Labs.
Mr. Lin has a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration
in Biomedical Devices and a B.S. in Biomechanical Engineering
from Stanford University.
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Michael Yoon, Industrial
Designer
Mr. Yoon is an industrial designer
whose experience ranges from designing consumer electronic
products to living habitats for NASA’s
conceptual projects. His graduate work focused on designing personal
medical products which included a home ultrasound system, an
emergency water desalinization system, and a line of hybrid wheelchairs.
Mr.
Yoon has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University
of Rochester, and an M.F.A. from the Academy of Art University
in San Francisco.
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Jason Halac, Mechanical Design Engineer
Mr. Halac has worked in the aerospace, consumer product, and medical device industries. He has experience in concept generation, mechanical design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing implementation of innovative new products. His engineering expertise includes designing parts for injection molding, die casting, forging, MIM, screw machine, and metal stamping.
Jason has led the design of several medical devices including a powered stapling device for use in laparoscopic surgery, a slitting tool for a ventricular assist device, and treatment tools for percutaneous discectomy.
Mr. Halac graduated from San Diego State University with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering.
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