Director of laboratory and research services at RIH Orthopaedic Foundation. Here we work with medical device manufacturers; doctors, fellows, and residents of University Orthopedics; clinicians of Rhode Island Hospital; and research faculty and students from Brown University to advance the quality of orthopedic healthcare.

Responsible for all mechanical performance testing and reporting on devices for 510(k) submissionsEmployed standardized tests and non-standard tests using in vitro and ex vivo test models Management of test engineers and the engineering laboratoryDirected the preclinical testing that lead to FDA approval of a rapidly expanding portfolio of Spine Wave devices including four new devices within a four month span in 2016-2017.

Responsible for all mechanical performance testing and reporting on devices for 510(k) submissionsEmployed standardized tests and non-standard tests using in vitro and ex vivo test models Management of test engineers and the engineering laboratoryA highlight was being part of the engineering team that won the Orthopedics Today Spine Tech Award in the Minimally Invasive category in 2015 for the Leva® PX Interbody Device.

Conducted in vitro and ex vivo tests to support IDE submissions on NuCore® Injectable NucleusCollaborated with regulatory personnel in writing sections of the IDE submissionAssisted with the shelf-life determination, sterile packaging, and mixing device for NuCore®Hired to revitalize the pre-clinical mechanical testing of NuCore®, a synthetic protein polymer hydrogel for nucleus pulpous replacement. This work has lead to two US patents to date (9132207, 9549962).

Performed all aspects of materials science and failure analysis technical projectsProposal writing, budgeting, testing and inspections, and reportingLooking for a new challenge, I joined a former colleague who had founded an independent consulting firm. Mantis Associates primarily serves the electric utility and pharmaceutical packaging markets. Working from our home-based offices we tackled projects as diverse as trouble-shooting seals in metered dose inhalers for a major pharmaceutical company to grading obsolete 4 kV electrical substations to prioritize phase-out for a local utility.

Carried out technical and forensic investigationsSpecialized in high and low-voltage failure analysis and polymer degradationManaged materials science laboratory facilitiesTrained personnel in the use of analytical materials science instrumentationHired as the second employee to start a new company that grew out of a collaboration between Altran Corporation and three professors from MIT. I oversaw the integration of Altran Materials Engineering capabilities with ManLabs, a distinguished Cambridge based materials laboratory, and eventually moved this facility into a new location in the seaport district of Boston. I was the technical lead on an failure analysis for a nuclear plant that identified the root cause of a shutdown and developed inspection criteria for the sister unit that averted a subsequent shutdown.

Employed by the Electrical Insulation Research Center at the Institute of Materials Science Built and managed high voltage dielectrics laboratory for academic and industrial researchResponsible for carrying out grant supported research for the electrical utility industryMuch of our research targeted the mechanisms of electrochemical water treeing degradation of underground cables which was responsible for premature failures and associated high replacement costs.Education