Kelly Umstead

Assistant Professor of Industrial Design, North Carolina State University Kelly Umstead is an Associate Professor of Industrial Design and the Director of Graduate Programs in Industrial Design at NC State University’s College of Design. She is also an adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Joint Program of Biomedical Engineering at NC State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kelly has industry experience in both engineering research focusing on biomechanics and human movement with applications ranging from gait analysis and rehabilitation to sports science and aquatics, and in industrial design with a focus in the medical device industry. Kelly’s experience in product design has always been human-centric, from acquiring user needs, translating those needs into viable products, and verifying and validating designs through usability testing. In academia, Kelly’s research interests focus on maternity care, medical device development, and human-centered design.

Assistant Professor of Industrial Design, North Carolina State University

Kelly Umstead is an Associate Professor of Industrial Design and the Director of Graduate Programs in Industrial Design at NC State University’s College of Design. She is also an adjunct professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Joint Program of Biomedical Engineering at NC State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kelly has industry experience in both engineering research focusing on biomechanics and human movement with applications ranging from gait analysis and rehabilitation to sports science and aquatics, and in industrial design with a focus in the medical device industry. Kelly’s experience in product design has always been human-centric, from acquiring user needs, translating those needs into viable products, and verifying and validating designs through usability testing. In academia, Kelly’s research interests focus on maternity care, medical device development, and human-centered design.

Activities for Kelly

Academic Juror | 2023

IDSA Award Winner | Young Educator | 2020

IDSA Young Educator Award Recipient

In September 2017, Kelly Umstead, IDSA, assumed the position of chair of IDSA’s Medical Special Interest Section. The assistant professor of industrial design at North Carolina State University (NC State) has a vision. “I hope to continue building on the Medical Section’s successes we’ve been seeing in the last few years with (IDSA Board of Directors Section Director and former Medical Section Chair) Sean Hägen,” says Umstead. “It’s also exciting to see the IDSA Medical Design Conference growing and becoming more dynamic.”

Umstead says design is a huge determinant in multiple aspects of medical devices from user and patient safety to compliance and improved outcomes. She says the IDSA Medical Section will continue to foster relationships in and out of IDSA—as medical design is an extremely interdisciplinary industry. “I look forward to being part of the Medical Section as we work to network across the complex healthcare ecosystems, create communities and share learnings.”

Umstead’s professional experience is rooted in research. She began her career as an engineer with a focus on biomechanics and human movement with applications ranging from gait analysis and rehabilitation to sports science and aquatics. During the last 10 years, she worked as an industrial designer specializing in medical device design and product usability.

She offers three suggestions to aspiring medical designers:

Get familiar with the landscape: “Knowing the regulatory space and the path to market is critical to the success of medical design. It’s important to understand how you are expected to conduct user testing and how your device may be reimbursable by insurance companies. As a designer, you may not be directly responsible for each of these aspects, but thoughtful consideration and planning may prevent future roadblocks.”
Keep an open mind: Talking to the stakeholders within the space is always illuminating—from highly skilled surgeons to family caretakers who may have no medical training. “All perspectives are relevant and understanding them within the context of the user leads to well-informed and rich designs,” says Umstead. “Get into the clinic or hospital whenever you can—to experience firsthand the various users and environments in which your design solutions will ultimately reside.”
Remember the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is your friend: “The FDA may seem like an intimidating body to some. However, just like designers, they want their work to improve quality of life by ensuring the safety and efficacy of medical devices. Working with them along the way can help facilitate the process and pave the path to medical device success.”

Umstead earned her MID from NC State and her MS in biomedical engineering from Marquette University. At NC State, her research interests include healthcare, medical device development, user-centered design and design research methodologies. Umstead also serves as the faculty advisor to the NC State IDSA Student Chapter and is on the planning committee for IDSA’s 2018 South District Design Conference at NC State in Raleigh.

Speaker | Medical Design Deep Dive | 2019

Panel Discussion | Clinical Decision Support & AI User Interface Design

Moderator: Kelly Umstead, IDSA (North Carolina State University)
Panelists: Jeff Hersh (GE Healthcare), Mike Rayo (The Ohio State University), Priyama Barua(Mad*Pow)

Section Officer | 2017, 2018

Speaker | Education Symposium | 2017

Traceability in the Design Process: Draw the Line Between User Needs & Final Product

Industrial designers are an increasingly integral part of medical and healthcare spaces. Understanding the regulatory landscape is imperative for the approval and acceptance of medical devices.

Traceability integration provides ID students with a formal set of checks and balances to meet project requirements. Kelly Umstead, IDSA, of North Carolina State University shars how Incorporating principles of design controls in an ID studio setting reinforces student design process, promotes communication through traceable linkages and provides insight into the nuances of medical device design.