Speakers

Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She received a BS degree in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MS and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University, and was the recipient of a National Institutes of Health Kirchstein-NRSA post-doctoral fellowship award at the University of Rochester. She also spent four years doing research and development for a commercially available, robotic human patient simulator.

Dr. Lamkin-Kennard's research focuses on the use of computational and physical models to simulate integrated human physiological systems. Most recently her work has focused on microscale systems and development of biomimetic robotic systems. Specific areas of expertise include biofluid dynamics and transport phenomena, biomedical computation and numerical methods, and integrated multiphysics systems modeling, particularly related to microcirculatory, cardiovascular, and cellular systems biology.

Brian Sanderson graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering from Binghamton University in May of 2008. He began employment at Sensis Corporation in July of 2008 as a Systems Engineer and has since changed positions to a System Integration and Test Engineer.

Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, Sensis Corporation is a global provider of air traffic control, airport and operations management, and air defense. At Sensis, Brian has directly contributed to testing and problem solving in surface surveillance systems at airports in Australia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

In his free time, Brian enjoys reading and staying physically active.

Craig Meyerson
Welch Allyn, Inc.
Project Manager – New Product Development

I graduated from Syracuse University L.C. Smith School of Engineering in 1998 with a BS in Bioengineering and focus in Bioinstrumentation. I enrolled in Syracuse University’s Bioengineering MS program the following year and also obtained an internship at Welch Allyn for the duration of my graduate schooling. I received my MS in the Spring of 2000 and continued with Welch Allyn on a full time basis since then.

During my time at Welch Allyn I worked on Electronic Medical Records, EENT Products and Electronic Vital Signs Products. My roles varied on each team which included engineering development, testing, market research and clinical efficacy testing. I received two patents for Blood Pressure Technology and have others still in process. My current role is a Project Manager in New Product Development working on a Next Generation Vital Signs Monitor.

Jason has five years of experience at Medtronic as a Preclinical Study Director and will be joining Medtronic’s Clinical Studies Leadership Development Program this summer. Currently, Jason is on a leave of absence to pursue his MBA at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management. Prior to Medtronic, Jason received his B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. His primary research areas included biomaterials and the biomechanics of heart failure.

At Medtronic, Jason started in the Biomaterials Department of Medtronic’s internal preclinical research facility, where biocompatibility, preclinical safety/feasibility, and customer education studies were performed. As a preclinical study director, Jason managed studies that ranged from biostability of new medical device materials to innovative heart failure therapies. This unique position allowed Jason to apply expertise in biomaterials and cardiovascular research while taking responsibility for the management and integrity of the preclinical studies for potential FDA submission. During his career, Jason managed over 75 preclinical studies and gained comprehensive knowledge of testing medical technology, which includes experience with MRI, ultrasound, clinical laboratory diagnostics, neuromodulation, electrophysiology, surgery and biocompatibility standards.

In May 2009, Jason applied for a voluntary leave of absence from Medtronic to attend the Johnson School’s Accelerated MBA program, which is a distinct program for MBA candidates with graduate degrees. His decision to pursue graduate school again was rooted in the desire to learn business strategy and management that was not covered in his engineering curriculum. Upon graduation, Jason will be taking on a new role within clinical studies management of the cardiovascular business at Medtronic.

Joanne Wu is a fourth year resident physician at University of Rochester specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She will be joining Unity Health System's Musculoskeletal and Spine Rehabilitation this July upon graduation. In addition, she will serve as part time faculty for the University of Rochester Medical School in Medical Humanities. Outside of her medicine, she is also a fitness instructor, yoga and pilates teacher with special interest in integrating complementary and alternative modalities in healing.

She obtained her BS in Biomedical Engineering with focus on Mechanical Engineering in 2002 from University of Rochester after being enrolled in the Rochester Early Medical Scholars program. She continued her medical training by obtaining her MD from UR in 2006 and will be completing her residency from URMC in June 2010.

Joanne has served as mentor to many UR's graduate and medical students throughout her trainig in Rochester with focus on serving as a clinical customer in biomedical engineering senior design projects. She hopes to continuing exploring collaborative opportunities between clinical, biomechanical and translational research. Currently, she is also a peer reviewer for International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Outside interests include charity bike tours, marathons, triathlons, cooking, music and dance.

Kristen Hovinga received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University in 2005. She graduated with an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in biomechanics from the University of Rochester in 2007. Kristen also graduated with a M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2008. Her research while at the U of R was directed in knee biomechanics, with a concentration in understanding differences between populations in knee mechanics with a focus to improve total knee replacements.

Since 2008, Kristen has been a Product Design Engineer at Bausch & Lomb in Rochester, NY. Her primary role consists of the product development of new soft contact lens designs. This position also involves interacting with a number of other disciplines from R&D and manufacturing. Kristen works to understand what the customer needs or expectations are, and translate those requirements into contact lens designs. Some of her work also involves working with a team using finite element (FE) modeling of a contact lens and its behavior as it conforms to the human eye.

Mark Ticktin received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) in June 2008. He completed a minor in Electrical Engineering, and had a concentration of study in Biomedical Systems and Imaging. While studying at Drexel, Mark completed co-operative education work experiences at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development and at Kensey Nash Coporation, working in Preclinical Genetic Toxicology and Catheter Product Development, respectively. In September 2008, Mark joined the team at iCardiac Technologies in Rochester, NY as an Associate Project Manager.
At iCardiac, Mark has worked in the development and execution of processes critical to the core operational flow. This work has been particularly focused on defining and improving methods for the successful execution of Highly Automated QT studies. Mark has over 2 years of experience in GxP regulations, and in February 2010 was named as the Manager of Project and Data Operations at iCardiac.

iCardiac Technologies, Inc. is a technologically-differentiated cardiac core lab providing the industry’s most sophisticated ICH E14 compliant cardiac safety assessment methodologies for Phase I through Phase IV studies. iCardiac’s analysis services provide drug developers with more precise and cost-effective methods for ECG interval measurements, including Highly Automated QT, which has been validated by pharmaceutical companies and is now used in regulatory submissions as being equivalent to the manual evaluation of ECGs in Thorough QT studies.