Experience

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  Ford motor company

  Jan 1991 - Jan 1999

  Product engineer

  Part of Ford College Graduate Training Program. Focus on product development, high volume manufacturing and fast cure structural adhesives.

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  Medtronic

  Jan 1999 - Jan 2019

  One of 45 in the company to hold the title of Distinguished Scientist or Engineer. Responsible for being the technical voice to senior executives. Consulted to translate between the technical community and the business community. The technical face of Medtronic for litigation and FDA interactions.Leading Medical Device Industry in Innovative Materials Research • Discovered critical material instability preventing usage in high volume manufacturing. Others in industry implemented the material. Published accelerated testing and shared results with the FDA, key opinion leaders, and our competitor planning to implement. • Recent data and publications of others validated the accelerated testing results. Currently helping doctors manage patients with implanted faulty materials. Developed an in vitro accelerated predictive model.• Initiated and led industry-to-industry collaboration to share best practices in accelerated testing, in vitro to in vivo correlations. Invited panel participant to publicly share data and best practices at industry conference - Society of Bio-interfacial Engineering 2016.• Technical and team leader for developing a new 15-20 year biostable polymer. Collaborations with the University of Minnesota and a Nobel prize winning professor at Caltech. Show less Studied the structure-property and bio-stability relationship in polyurethanes. Dispelled many myths that existed in the industry about how these polymer degraded in the body. • Examined the permeability characteristics of polymers in the presence of drugs. Designed the research program that eventual lead to the acquisition of TyRx, a drug eluting antimicrobial pouch used to protect high risk patients from surgical cite infections. • Collaborated across the enterprise encompassing multiple separate technology initiatives into a single program.• Partnered with business development to identify an acquisition target aligning with internal research and testing. • Designed new bio-stable and bio-degradable polymers for use as drug delivery matrixes.• Created polymeric systems for spinal disc augmentation and replacement. Utilized findings to design regenerative medicine collaboration with the University of Minnesota to move disc therapy forward. Show less Corporate research advisor for graduate students and postdocs at UMN. The conduit into Medtronic for a major research collaboration to create a zero-fold angioplasty balloon. • 8-year research and technology transfer led to the launch of the Sprinter Balloon. A very successful new business to this day. Developed the technology platform for the Sprinter Balloon.• Corporate Technology and Ventures - Material Technologies Group. Worked on diabetes cell therapy. Calculated required nutrient and oxygen requirements as a function of device density to assure viable cells. Show less Program leader for all polymer business directed research and development. • First polymer Physicist ever hired by Medtronic.• Conducted all structure property initiatives. Expert consultant on development, manufacturing, and returned product issues. Employed polymer processing, mechanical design, materials selection expertise.• Technical Strategy experience - Vision 2010 Materials and Tissue Engineering retrospective, Technology 2020 – Drug delivery. • Earned place on team of senior technical leaders creating 10-year technology strategy. Plan implemented leading to direction for next decade. Show less

  • Distinguished Scientist

    Jan 2010 - Jan 2019

  • Senior Principal Scientist, Technical Fellow

    Jan 2006 - Jan 2010

  • Principal Scientist

    Jan 2002 - Jan 2006

  • Senior Scientist

    Jan 1999 - Jan 2002
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  University of minnesota

  Jul 2016 - now

  External advisory board - chemical engineering and material science
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  Medtronic

  May 2019 - now

  Bakken Fellow (2010 – Present)Technical Fellow, Strategic and Scientific Operations (2006 to Present)Sr. Distinguished Scientist, Strategic and Scientific Operations (2019 to Present)One of only 8 holding this top technical title within the company. Responsible for leading the enterprise-wide technology forecasting effort and directing research projects within the Corporate Research Organization. Provides the technical voice to the Executive Committee and to the Board of Directors. Regularly presents to the Board of Directors. Reports to the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer.• Currently Team Leader in creating the enterprise-wide 10-year technology roadmap.Collaborates with 4 business groups in forecasting technology that will be critical to the future of the enterprise. • Recently led a deep dive into the medical sensors space assessing technology gaps to enable patients the ability to meet a physician online utilizing sensor data and prediction algorithms to prevent hospitalization. • Currently leading technology deep dive into regenerative medicine to assess the scalability of academic discoveries to the large patient population served by Medtronic. • Partnering with University of Minnesota on a basic science project to fill identified technology gaps related to degenerative spinal discs. Designed and leading the team to execute the Technical Strategy for Materials Obsolescence.Executive Sponsor of Technical Societies (Bakken Fellows and Technical Fellows) Show less

  • Vice President Corporate Technologist

    May 2021 - now

  • Bakken Fellow and Technical Fellow

    Aug 2010 - now

  • Sr. Distinguished Scientist, Strategic and Scientific Operations

    May 2019 - May 2021
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  New york university

  Jul 2019 - now

  External advisory board - chemical and biomolecular engineering