LightForce Orthodontics R&D
Senior R&D Engineer, LightForce Orthodontics, Massachusetts, US
I joined LightForce at the very early startup stage as a passionate engineer focusing on all aspects of medical device design. This included research, ideation, invention, design, development, regulatory and process. As my role evolved and I honed my skills I became the senior R&D engineer passionately leading innovation and advancing the frontier of medical device technology within the organization. Here are some of my achievements and responsibilities:
New products: Sole designer responsible for new products, including:
Changed the material of a Class II additively manufactured device to a translucent ceramic. Received FDA approval; became flagship product upon launch.
Obtained 510(k) approval for a novel Class II additively manufactured Nitinol containing medical device I invented, designed and tested.
Designed, tested and released a new Class I additively manufactured stainless steel medical device.
As of July 2025, my innovative work at LightForce has resulted in the issuance of several patents, and filing of ~6 provisional patents.
Invention, prototyping and patenting of 6 other novel orthodontic medical devices.
New design paradigm: I invented and took leadership of creating a design paradigm that harnessed the additively manufactured nature of our product to enable fully patient matched device geometry. My inspiration came from a vision of substantially improved device performance, patient comfort and treatment optionality for the customer. This role includes defining new software architecture, establishment of product requirements and extensive design, communication, collaboration and leadership.
Representative of the R&D team: I became the go-to representative of the R&D team especially when collaborating & brainstorming with and getting feedback and ideas from clinical experts, practitioners and customers.
