I am currently a PhD candidate at MIT in Professor Alex Slocum's Precision Engineering Research Group (PERG), performing research in the design of implants and instrumentation for cardiac intervention. The core of my research focuses on catheter-based mitral valve repair. I aim to achieve reliable percutaneous repair of the mitral valve, allowing for earlier intervention in the disease process and eliminating the need for open heart surgery and/or bypass. New patent pending implant designs, robotic intervention technologies, and further disruptive technologies are being defined and explored, which are applicable far beyond the cardiac field; stay tuned for exciting updates and publications! If you are interested in licensing related intellectual property, please contact the MIT TLO.

My Master's work (also in Professor Alex Slocum's Precision Engineering Research Group (PERG)) focused on the design of a new medical device. I invented a new, patent pending device and method to apply simplified negative pressure wound therapy (sNPWT), which is a purely mechanical, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) variation. A team of two surgeons at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and I will run clinical trials in Rwanda, Africa and the U.S. this spring (2011). It is very exciting to work on a project that can potentially benefit the millions of patients that suffer from chronic wounds. You can learn more about this project at: