Hotshot #15
“I was born and lived in Bogota, Colombia until I was 8, when my family moved to New Jersey and then Indiana shortly thereafter. My junior year of High School was spent in Joigny, France. Junior year in France is specialized, so I chose Life & Earth Sciences, which influenced me to study Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University.
At Purdue, I embarked on a journey of research: a nano-satellite project with NASA, studying microgravity and plant cells; a biomechanics lab to study osteoarthritis; a co-op at Cook Medical working on minimally invasive devices; and designing circuits for wirelessly powering implantable devices. The cherry-on-top was going to Los Angeles to test our prototypes on cadavers with surgeons!
During my undergrad, I studied and researched abroad in Lucerne, Switzerland for a Fall semester – focusing again on space biomedical research. I was living by the Swiss Alps next to the beautiful Lake Lucerne – it all looked like a fairy tale! I was considering dropping out of Purdue and transferring, thinking, “I could live the rest of my days here.”
I came back to Purdue and started Purdue MIND, a club, to grow the biomedical engineering community. We then decided to start a company – Predictive Wear LLC (@predictivewear). We identified heart failure and its toll on patients and caregivers where we could make a positive difference. We develop medical wearable technology, beginning with a “smart” compression legging to monitor heart decompensation with sensors in the legging – preventing rehospitalizations and increasing care transparency.
In starting Predictive Wear as students, we found ourselves being contracted to implement our abilities for product development in other companies. This led us to, recently, start another endeavor called Crowd-U, which is a crowdsourcing platform for industry to sponsor contest or contract challenges with college students.
The life of a startup founder is always in a state of flux, wearing multiple hats, so whenever I need a chill place to work with amazing coffee, I always choose @SawadaCoffee!”
- Pablo, Biomedical Engineer & Entrepreneur
In starting Predictive Wear as students, we found ourselves being contracted to implement our abilities for product development in other companies. This led us to, recently, start another endeavor called Crowd-U, which is a crowdsourcing platform for industry to sponsor contest or contract challenges with college students.
The life of a startup founder is always in a state of flux, wearing multiple hats, so whenever I need a chill place to work with amazing coffee, I always choose @SawadaCoffee!”
- Pablo, Biomedical Engineer & Entrepreneur