System Verification Engineer at Johnson & Johnson

Mar 05, 2024

Bryan Aldana, works as a system verification engineer at Johnson & Johnson, where he creates, validates, and executes test methods to verify capital system requirements.

What is the highest degree you have earned and what can you tell us about your academic path?

Master’s in Biomedical Engineering. Starting my academic journey at Stanford University, I got my Bachelor’s in Bioengineering. At Stanford, I was working in a wet lab within the Cardiovascular Institute working with cardiomyocytes. Although, wet lab work was exciting, and a great skill, I found myself wanting to work on tangible products. That led me to want to continue learning about medical devices, what ended up being my focus for my Master’s program working with the Sia lab, a medical device focused lab at Columbia.

Where do you work now and what is your company about?

Johnson & Johnson, a Family of Companies part of the Robotics and Digital Solutions (RAD) in the Bay Area. The RAD program is developing a surgical robot, OTTAVA. The system is designed to create space in the operating room (OR), simplify complex workflows, enable flexibility for clinical approaches, and deliver the trusted performance of Ethicon instrumentation.

What do you like most about the company?

The people! I think the RAD program is full of youthful and innovative minds that aim to create creative solutions to very difficult problems.

What skills make you successful in your role and why did you choose this role?

Be able to learn quickly and a little about everything, robotics & controls, electronics, physics, clinical relevance of the surgeries that will be performed. Coding in python, creating engineering studies with physical principles revolving around torque along various joints of a robotics arm, etc.

How do you define success?

Feeling like you’ve achieved what you’ve wanted! Everyone has different goals, and being able to say you’ve accomplished them is a great sign of success!

What's the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Being able to work on the system everyday and see what it is capable of doing is super exciting! Like I said, I always wanted to work on tangible products, so working on a capital system that I know will touch thousands if not millions of lives is very fulfilling.

What advice do you have for students and job seekers?

Keep networking and making connections! Programs like SMDP are great ways to meet amazing people, products, and missions. My current position is a direct result from my mentor in the program, and if it weren’t for programs like SMDP, finding a career within industry without knowing what to expect or how to present oneself would be incredibly difficult.

What book did you read last?

Moon of the turning leaves by Waubgeshig Rice!