Asanka Moehring
Westwood Doppler
30 Mill Street, Westwood, MA 02090
What I Do
Medical Instrumentation
- Job Title: General Manager
- Years in Profession: 15 years
- Job and Daily Responsibilities:
Westwood Doppler was co-founded by myself and my father-in-law, Dr. Mark Moehring, Ph. D. As Co-founders, we work as a team to build the family business. Stroke, a major cause for suffering to many communities around the world, is the current clinical focus for Westwood Doppler, As the general manager, I am ultimately responsible for the final decisions.
Westwood Doppler is a Bioinstrumentation company, meaning our day to day operations involve doing engineering to build instruments. We convert ultrasound echoes we collect from places in the human brain to meaningful images that are displayed on a clinician’s computer screen so they can then use this important information to help their patients.
The engineering process involved in designing a medical instrument is not simple. Being well versed in the latest technological advancements is a key requirement. Right now I’m taking evening classes at University of Massachusetts Lowell to add to my skillset by learning computer chip design specifically those capable of super-fast numerical calculations, after already having completer my Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2011. The ability to do vast amounts of numerical calculations in a short amount of time will enable me to implement creative algorithms to detect individuals that are at risk for stroke very very early; at a time that prevention is possible; and way before a stroke happens.
Education
St. Bridgets Convent in Colombo Sri-Lanka (Pre-K to 10th Grade)
Mt. Waverly Secondary College in Melbourne, Australia (10th – 12th Grade)
Associate Degree – Highline Community College (1999-2001)
College – University of Washington (2001 – 2005) BSc. & MSc. in Bioengineering
Further Study – University of Washington (2005 – 2011) Ph.D. in Bioengineering
Pre-Employment Experience
Biomedical Engineering Research Engineer, Spencer Technologies: 2003 – 2006
Research Assistant – Regional Epilepsy Center, Harborview Medical Center: 2001 – 2003
List of classes that are most important/applicable to succeed in your profession:
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities available for high school and/or college students to learn:
I love working with students. For me it all begins with a conversation as to why they are here at my door and what they hope to accomplish during our time together. Once I find out what aspects of engineering frustrates and thrills someone I can easily find them a project that’s part of an engineering activity that’s going on at Westwood Doppler at the time.
To me mentoring is very much a symbiotic relationship where we both learn, teach and mutually benefit from interacting with each other. While I teach the high schooler engineering they will no doubt teach me about TikTok, instagram, pop culture etc.