Behind the career: Biomedical Engineering

Assistant Quality Engineer at Delfi Medical Innovations and Biomedical Engineer at Western Clinical Engineering 

Julie is not your typical engineer. Employed in a dual position at Western Clinical Engineering and Delfi Medical Innovations, her split position allows her to wear the hats of many roles, from project management to hands-on biomedical engineering. “I am someone that thrives off doing many different things,” Julie explains, “and this unique position enables me to have a hand in all processes of the development cycle — from conception to getting a device to market and maintaining ISO 13485 environment.” 

While she may now have landed positions that aligns with her love for innovative biotechnology and medical devices, Julie also knows firsthand that finding your passion is not something that just happens instantaneously. “[You have to] try enough and experience enough to know what you like and what you don’t like,” Julie advises.  

Julie embodied this advice during her time as an undergraduate student at UBC, being actively involved with UBC BEST (UBC Biomedical Engineering Student Team) since her first year of university. After joining the design team, she continued to progress in seniority throughout the years and was soon elected COO of the team. “I learned many different things from UBC BEST.” Julie reminisces. “It is what made me realize that I have the skillset of a project manager and that I was able to see things on a higher level and scope.” 

The skills and confidence Julie gained through UBC BEST also pushed her to continue her quest of exploring her passion for biomedical engineering through the UBC co-op program, which even included working abroad as an engineering intern in Cape Town, South Africa for a full summer! 

At the root of all her amazing experiences in university comes an unapologetic curiosity to learn and grow. Julie passes on this valuable piece of advice she received in the industry: “If you ask for a reward, you’ll get advice. If you ask for advice, you’ll get rewarded with the answer to that question or even something else. Make sure you continue to ask questions and continue to learn because it is always very surprising what response you might get.” As a UBC engineering student, your opportunities here are boundless, as we encourage you to seek out these questions and to chase after these curiosities!