Overview:

What happens when a life-saving medical device must be taken off the market and the entire manufacturing process rebuilt under intense time pressure? In this talk, Verna Manty Rodriguez shares lessons from leading through a medical device manufacturing crisis early in her engineering career. Drawing on experiences across industry and academia, she reflects on how medical technologies succeed—or fail—across the full device lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to real-world use and maintenance in hospitals. The talk explores how technical professionals can elevate critical signals, strengthen feedback loops between clinical environments and manufacturers, and lead with clarity and courage in high-stakes systems.

Presenters:

Verna Manty Rodriguez, Executive Director, Master in Translational Medicine Program, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco  

Verna Manty Rodriguez is the Executive Director of the Master in Translational Medicine program at UC Berkeley and UCSF, where she works at the intersection of engineering, medicine, and industry to train the next generation of leaders in medical technology development. She also teaches and advises on project management, design control, and quality-by-design for medical products.
Before joining Berkeley and UCSF, Verna taught bioengineering at Santa Clara University and advised startups on medical device development through her consultancy, Manty Medtech. Earlier in her career, she led engineering design and manufacturing teams developing cardiovascular and pulmonary medical devices—including implants, grafts, catheters, and delivery systems—at companies such as Edwards Lifesciences, Abbott Vascular, and Boston Scientific.
She holds three U.S. patents and earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from the University of California, Berkeley.