Alumni spotlight: Armando Mitchell
December 2019—Since graduating from the Department of Biomedical Engineering’s undergraduate program, Armando Mitchell has worked in a variety of functions at Medtronic.
He interned in the Quality and Manufacturing group within Cardiovascular his junior and senior year, then received a full-time offer in the Neuromodulation business providing support for clinical trials as a Field Clinical Engineer. That role was transformative as it provided him with an opportunity to work in the operating room with surgeons and interact first-hand with patients on a weekly basis.
From there, he moved into a sales/market development role for two years building out a new channel in the Senior Living market for Medtronic’s Pelvic Health business line—expanding access to a treatment for overactive bladder and urinary incontinence. Most recently, he joined Medtronic’s Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions group, working across the entire enterprise on investment opportunities.
How did your BME degree prepare you for your career?
The value that BME provides over more traditional programs (electrical or mechanical engineering) is that from day one you are forced to consider the constraints our field operates in. We undergo the same rigor in training on the core engineering concepts but it is always rooted in the anatomy and physiology of the body.
That foundation provides advantages in a variety of scenarios; for me, I was able to confidently step into the operating room at 22 years old and know that I understood the underlying aspects of the devices and therapies the surgeons were implanting—which made me a more effective partner. This was a consistent theme as I moved out of the technical world and stepped into business roles.
My advice to the next generation of BME graduates would be to never underestimate the advantage a BME foundation provides when pursuing a career within the medical device industry. I am reminded of that fact daily as I walk by the Medtronic mission statement: “Contributing to human welfare by the application of biomedical engineering to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life.”
After graduating from our undergraduate program, you pursued an MBA and now work in mergers and acquisitions. What led you to focus on the business side of biomedical engineering?
While I enjoyed working in the field as a technical expert, I began to see other opportunities to strategically shape the organization. There are a variety of factors that drive decision making within the organization that are outside of the scope of engineering a product. Other functions such as regulatory, clinical, marketing, and distribution all factor into the success a product can have on the market. Additionally, external factors such as payer coverage/reimbursement and physician/hospital workflows are also critical to consider. As I began to realize the impact of the entire healthcare continuum on the medical device industry, I had a desire to learn more about how you can most effectively drive change and improve outcomes holistically.
What major opportunities do you see for BME graduates to contribute to the medical device industry in the next decade?
Given the current landscape, there is a strong appetite for innovation in care and care delivery—which is the hallmark of biomedical engineers. Med-tech, biopharma, immunotherapy, diagnostics, and digital health are all experiencing strong levels of investment to spur innovation so as a BME graduate you will have opportunities across the entire spectrum of healthcare. As you go out into your careers, I would encourage you to come back and provide insight to the next generation of students so we can continue to build upon the network and help grow the impact of our department.