Nicolas Valentin Email & Phone Number

Innsbruck, AT

Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria

• Design and development of the next generation Vestibular Implant System to help people with chronic balance disorders at a national level. Collaboration in an interdisciplinary group of 28 people, under strict EU/US.
• System Testing: Verification and Validation
• Mechatronic test equipment and Vestibular Implant system component development
• Project management, workload identification, planning, resource coordination; mentorship of new colleagues
• High-level discussions with project leaders, surgeons and cliniciansKey achievements:
• System level testing of mechanical, electronic, firmware, software for functional verification and regulatory approval. Collaboration with 4 engineers.

Baltimore, Maryland Area

• Development of the 1st human-implantable Vestibular Prosthesis, and diagnostic systems, to help people with chronic balance disorders. Involvement from conception, creation, testing and implementation in.
• Clinical trial at Johns Hopkins Hospital. 7 human subjects implanted partially regained balance and quality of life. Collaboration with large team of engineers, surgeons and clinicians.
• Developed a Vestibular Implant system in collaboration with 10+ engineers at Labyrinth Devices and MED-EL.
• Developed mechatronic tools (i.e. an automated head rotator and an eye movement tracking device) for evaluation of vestibular/oculomotor function.

Baltimore, Maryland Area

• Research work under Dr. Charles Della Santina & Dr. Gene Fridman. Focused on determining whether a commercially available cochlear implant stimulator could be adapted for use as a vestibular implant.Key achievements:
• Devised an effective vestibular implant prototype. System included 1) a body-worn unit, which sampled & processed head motion sensor data from 2) a head-worn unit, which relayed stimulation pulse commands via radio.
• Demonstrated that a modified cochlear implant system can restore balance in animals & potentially in humans
• Published results in Journal of Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering (2012)
• Prototype device became basis for MVI system now being evaluated in First-in-Human clinical trial

Baltimore, Maryland Area

Research work under Dr. Nitish Thakor Ph.D. as a Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) Scholar. Investigated neurological effects of therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest, neurological changes from septic encephalopathy & potential methodologies for early disease diagnosis, treatment & prognosis.

Costa Mesa, CA

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) development for high speed converged networking.

Brea, CA

Analysis & re-design of PCB assemblies from biomedical testing automation systems to design-out obsolete components & reduce cost, while ensuring RoHS compliance.

Master Of Science, Biomedical Engineering

Activities and Societies: BMES, IEEE, ARO, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu •Emphasis: Study of physiology, devices, algorithms and procedures.

Bachelors Of Science, Electrical Engineering, Gpa: 3.8/4.0, Magna Cum Laude

Activities and Societies: IEEE, SHPE, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu •Emphasis: Instrumentation, Communications and Signal Processing, Control.