Aug 2024 – Apr 2025 · 8 mos

• The VCU da Vinci Center is an interdisciplinary innovation hub offering a Master’s in Product Innovation and certificates in Venture Creation and Healthcare Innovation, bridging business, engineering, arts, and design to drive entrepreneurship and human-centered problem-solving.
• I led user research, including ethnography, interviews, and surveys, for VCU Health's rural emergency departments, achieving a 50% reduction in patient walkouts and generating over $620k in annual savings by enhancing patient experiences and optimizing operational efficiency.
• I also facilitated product innovation workshops for over 100 employees across healthcare, higher education, and government sectors, focusing on user research methods, prototyping, business model development, and design thinking techniques.
• Finally, I taught two courses:
• Designing the Future of Health: Guiding students through research methodologies and design processes to create impactful solutions. (Fall 2024)
• Teaching, Learning, Technology and the Future of Higher Education: Exploring trends and applications of emerging technologies to empower future faculty. (Spring 2025)

Aug 2023 – Jun 2024 · 10 mos

• Mercari, Japan's first unicorn startup, is a peer-to-peer marketplace that enables users to buy and sell with ease through its mobile app.
• Led quarterly research planning for Selling Innovation team with product leadership to align studies with key business initiatives.
• Led end-to-end research strategy for marketplace seller experience, driving 3x increase in daily listings through insights that informed AI-powered feature development and optimization.
• Developed and executed mixed-methods research roadmap resulting in 12-57% YoY GMV growth in key verticals.
• Built strong alliances with product management, CRM, data engineering, and business insights teams, enhancing data triangulation capabilities and UXR team data fluency in R, Looker, and BigQuery.
• Scaled research impact by developing a quarterly research share-out attended by 70+ employees, increasing research-informed decisions.
• Pioneered novel research methodology combining ethnography and passive behavioral data to deeply understand drivers of engagement, contributing to +10-20% increase in daily active users.
• Created automated research dashboard in Looker combining user feedback, product-market fit, and competitor preferences data, used by cross-functional stakeholders.
• Teams: Loyalty, Selling Innovation

Jun 2022 – Sep 2023 · 1 yr 3 mos

• I conducted discovery research using generative methods to deeply understand drivers of engagement, such as user interviews about rewarding interactions to inform a customer loyalty program, and a diary study of Mercari’s most engaged users to inform positioning strategy.
• I synthesized and visualized research through 25+ presentations detailing insights, takeaways, and business implications for cross-functional and executive teams.

Jun 2020 – May 2021 · 11 mos · Austin, Texas, United States · On-site

• Conducted neuropsychological assessments and patient interviews, synthesizing findings into personalized reports for clients presenting with dementia, cognitive impairment, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression, pre-surgical epilepsy, and other diagnoses.

Sep 2019 – May 2020 · 8 mos

• Conducted 270+ hours of individual clinical interviews and assessments, focusing on qualitative research methodologies.

Aug 2018 – Aug 2022 · 4 yrs

• Analyzed multi-modal data streams across wearable technology, psychological assessments, and neuroimaging data to inform connections between circadian rhythms and cognitive aging, resulting in 4 peer-reviewed publications and 8 conference presentations. Supervised 12 research assistants and managed 2 multi-year studies. Teaching assistant for Cognitive Neuroscience of Sleep.

Jan 2017 – Jul 2018 · 1 yr 6 mos · Richmond, Virginia, United States

• Managed a $10 million grants program, coordinating cross-functional teams across universities, healthcare centers, and industry partners to drive user-centered innovation in healthcare solutions.
• Built data-driven reports to demonstrate program success, helping secure $2.6 million in continued funding through insights that informed strategic decision-making and stakeholder alignment.

Jun 2016 – Jul 2018 · 2 yrs 1 mo · Richmond, VA

• Screened, recruited, and interviewed patients in acute healthcare settings, ensuring high quality research execution in a fast-paced environment. Managed clinical trial source documents, adverse event reports, protocol deviations, subject screening and enrollment reports, and personnel training logs.

Jan 2016 – Aug 2016 · 7 mos · Richmond, VA

• Implemented signal processing techniques to optimize EEG brain-computer interface for use with skin-like electronic devices. Mentored undergraduate students in hands-on laboratory experience focusing on optimization of an EEG-based brain-computer interface system for wheelchair navigation using skin-like electronics.

Jan 2013 – Jul 2016 · 3 yrs 6 mos · Remote

• Designed and developed a comprehensive course on disability studies and vocational rehabilitation, including researching and curating relevant content and media to enhance learning outcomes.
• Structured and organized course materials in PowerSchool, ensuring seamless navigation and user-friendly experience for students.
• Collaborated with subject matter experts to ensure course alignment with educational goals and industry standards.
• Applied instructional design principles to create engaging, interactive learning experiences that fostered student engagement and success.
• Contributed to research papers on disability and stigma in the workplace, supporting academic scholarship and real-world applications.