Humanfactors Design Works is a product development consultancy collaborating with some of the largest medical companies, pioneering research institutions, and dynamic startups to turn innovation into longterm value and faster time-to-market for our clients. For more than two decades, our award winning team has specialized in the research, design, and engineering of medical devices for all facets of the human body, including orthopedics, respiratory, wound care, drug delivery, epidemiology, and vision.
Our project diversity is what enables us to know our way around the operating room, to lead a focus group, to translate complex ideas into valuable IP. We work with startups, institutions, and industry to develop concepts throughout all phases of product development—from early stage data collection to market research, engineering and user testing to commercialization—enhancing the user experience, improving patient outcomes, and providing value to our clients.
Reed DeWinter
Industrial Designer
Reed is an award winning industrial designer with 20 years experience, working on everything from housewares to consumer electronics, furniture to medical devices. He has worked on products for most facets of the human body throughout all phases of product development. Collaboration is what he loves most about market research and the creative process. Working with engineering to refine concepts, discussing procedures in the OR with surgeons and scrub techs, investigating behavior in a focus group - these are the activities that translate research, design, and engineering from the page to the patient. Reed earned a BS from the University of Cincinnati’s acclaimed DAAP program for industrial design.
Steve Getz
Electrical Engineer
Mr. Getz has over 25 years experience researching and developing diverse electronic and software technologies. His background is in embedded software/hardware platforms, including a broad scope of microprocessors, dozens of programming languages (C/C++, Visual Basic, Assembly, Fortran, FORTH, including many others), and interfacing these devices to analog and digital peripherals. Mr. Getz has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Drexel University, and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, where he specialized in digital signal processing and neural networks, fiber optics, and computer hardware.
Walter Stoeckmann
Mechanical Engineer
Walter brings over 30 years developing a diversity of consumer and medical products. Starting as a draftsman, that meticulous nature of work carried over into his ability to problem solve at every level of product development. He’s expert in understanding materials and manufacturing processes, making him invaluable while liaising with production, performing FEA and tolerance studies, and inspecting prototype performance. He’s also that rare engineer who’s adept at sketching, enabling a higher degree of communication and collaboration with designers and clients alike. He received his BET from the University of New Hampshire.
Vince Russell
President
As an engineer, Vince led multidisciplinary teams in developing innovative products and processes within the world of transportation, electronics, and for defense. This solid foundation of engineering and product development led him out from behind the engineering desk into researching emerging markets. He has progressed into commercial leadership roles in business development, sales, and the marketing of engineered products. Vince understands how to convert gaps in the competitive landscape and user needs into actionable product development opportunities, often helping clients identify the true breadth and relevance of their current design problem, and how it may impact their short and long term development strategy.
picture coming soon…
Jacob White
Mechanical Engineer
Jacob White has 30+ years of mechanical engineering experience. His entire career has, in various ways, been vested in people’s well being. He began by working on life support systems for the most extreme environments, from the depths of the ocean to the challenges of surviving zero gravity in space. The work’s complexity, and the fact that people’s safety was reliant upon his work, left Jacob with an intimate understanding of the importance of maintaining high engineering standards, so segueing into medical device development then seemed like a natural move. He’s equally comfortable developing big-idea concepts as he is toiling away in the lab, as long as the work leads to better patient outcomes. Jacob earned his BET from the University of Hartford.
Julie Kramer
Graphic Designer
Julie Kramer is an award winning professional photographer and graphic designer, and co-founder of The Fairview Agency, a creative firm specializing in publication. Her extensive work in scientific publications has made her invaluable to Humanfactors throughout the creative process - working closely on the front end with researchers to understand design problems, and then translating complex science into accessible information for disparate stakeholders. Her experience in photojournalism makes her particularly adept researching emerging markets and the lives of our clients’ end users. She earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
What it’s like to work with us…
“I have had the privilege to work with Humanfactors on several projects in both disposable and implantable medical device product development. The projects ranged from market assessment and trends analysis to full partnership on new product development including user needs definition, concept design, prototype development, and end user feedback/incorporation. They take the time to entrench themselves in the projects to gain a full understanding of the requirements and then translate those into easily understood design elements and features. Their end product whether it is conceptual drawings, written reports and/or working models have always hit the mark and led to successful project outcomes. I look forward to the opportunity to work with them again on future project development activities.”
Bob Cipoletti — Sr Director, New Product Development & Project Management Stryker Spine