Danny Gelfman
Senior Principal Solutions Designer, Medtronic
Since joining Medtronic in 2012, Danny has pioneered the use of human-centered design across the enterprise. He is the “go-to” for organizing, visualizing, and implementing concept exploration ideas. Danny helps his colleagues think bigger to find new opportunities in their product development processes. An inventor on 10 Medtronic patents for several different products, Danny’s work has won two Medtronic Star of Excellence Awards and an Innovation Leader Impact Award, and he became a Technical Fellow in 2019. Danny earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati.
Building Empathy from a Distance: Practicing Human-Centered Design During COVID-19
As human-centered designers at one of the world’s largest medical device companies, building a connection with the individuals and organizations that touch our products is the focus of our work. However, the travel and social distancing restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented us from gaining that critical firsthand experience and empathy in the same way. Additionally, the pandemic itself brought a sudden and drastic shift for all of our stakeholders across hospitals, clinics, and the home care setting. Successfully designing for user delight in the current times has required a complete shift in the way we conduct ethnographic research, engage with our clients, and build and maintain community amongst our fellow designers at Medtronic. In this session, we will share insights and lessons learned from the development and deployment of our human-centered design methodologies during the pandemic.
The State of Medical OEM Design in the Wake of a Pandemic
Medical device design is uniquely collaborative and cross-disciplinary by nature. The pandemic has broken down fundamental conditions on how human beings relate to each other. Join us in this roundtable discussion as three design leaders share their experiences and perspectives on the ways that COVID-19 has changed HOW in-house groups design and WHAT they design in the near future.
