Ep. 111 - Biocompatibility and Medical Device Expert - Amy Hoffmann

Welcome back to the Joust About Careers podcast! I’m your host, Brian Bratt, and this week’s guest is 1994 VB graduate Amy (Kuhn) Hoffmann, who is a biocompatibility and medical device expert. In this episode, Amy shares how chemistry has play an important role in her career journey, how a wide variety of degrees can help a person get started in the medical device field, how her current employer, Project Medtech, started as a podcast, and much more. Whether you are interested in a career in biocompatibility and medical devices or are still exploring your options, I hope that what Amy shares today will help all of you make better career decisions and have fulfilling career journeys. Enjoy the show!1:12 - A typical day as a biocompatibility and medical device expert2:44 - Chemistry has played in almost all of the jobs Amy has had.3:44 - Pressure is part of this career, but it isn’t overwhelming.5:38 - Amy has worked on all kinds of medical devices.6:36 - Amy had a strong interest in biology and chemistry even in high school.7:11 - Co-op opportunities led Amy to the University of Cincinnati.8:55 - Detergents - not what you might think9:55 - A degree in a field doesn’t limit a person to working in that field.11:25 - Are advanced degrees needed in this field?12:49 - Working with clients (those creating medical devices like an insulin pump) is Amy’s favorite part of her career.14:26 - Keep your options open, and consider a more general degree if you want to enter this field.16:08 - Even when Amy was working with a device, she might not have known how it would eventually be used.17:05 - It can take years for a device to become available for use.17:55 - Amy helps people bring their products to market, find investors, etc.19:04 - More about Project Medtech - it actually started as a podcast.21:26 - People don’t need to know exactly what their career pathways will be when they graduate from high school.Questions?Connect with Amy on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/amy-hoffmann-4425659/). Connect with Brian on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/brian-bratt/) or e-mail ([email protected]).