S5E3 Grace Park | Medical Device Engineering Leaders 4

Being an Engineer

Grace Park discusses her career journey in medical device engineering, managing challenges as an engineering leader, and her outlook on the future of the industry.

Main Topics:

• Engineering problem-solving mindset
• Overcoming imposter syndrome
• Trends in manufacturing and skills for engineers
• Strategies for self-care, and industry challenges

About the guest: Grace Park holds a bachelor’s degree in materials science & engineering and a PhD in biomedical engineering. She is a passionate R&D leader and people developer with 17 years of medical device product development and lifecycle management expertise and has led global Research and Development teams and program management responsible for developing innovative and safe solutions for medication delivery.

Link:
Grace Park - LinkedIn
About Being An Engineer

The Being An Engineer podcast is a repository for industry knowledge and a tool through which engineers learn about and connect with relevant companies, technologies, people resources, and opportunities. We feature successful mechanical engineers and interview engineers who are passionate about their work and who made a great impact on the engineering community.

The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us

Chapters

1. Grace Park discusses her passion for engineering and problem solving stemming from her experiences in high school math competitions. (00:00:01)

2. Grace shares her career path and role as a senior director of R&D in medical devices. (00:01:18)

3. Challenges Grace faced as a female Asian American engineer in a male-dominated industry. (00:02:01)

4. Attributes that allowed Grace to achieve her leadership position, including embracing challenges and constant learning. (00:04:17)

5. Grace's experience with imposter syndrome and reframing situations to focus on problem solving over feelings of inadequacy. (00:06:04)

6. Important technical skills for engineers like systems thinking and understanding tool limitations. (00:12:25)

7. Trends in medical device manufacturing around regulations, materials, and data integration challenges. (00:17:15)

8. Biggest challenges Grace faces as an engineering leader and importance of prioritizing mental health and well-being. (00:25:01)

9. Industry challenges around regulations, materials, and complex data/AI integration issues. (00:31:13)

10. Grace's vision for most impactful use of unlimited resources to simplify healthcare systems. (00:34:26)