09 Jul 2022

MIF alumna named to ‘Women Engineers You Should Know’ list

Every year, the Society of Women Engineers create a list of the top “Women Engineers You Should Know”. Dr. Asha Parekh, PhD’15, MIF’16 was named on the 2022 list.

The lists celebrates the contributions of women engineers who influence their disciplines, workplaces, and communities, we congratulate and celebrate all women on and off this list who continue to make a difference.

Asha Parekh, is resolute about helping people and saving lives so much so that she co-founded a medical technology company, Front Line Medical Technologies Inc., in 2017. Based in London, Ontario, Front Line developed the COBRA-OS™, a novel aortic occlusion device that has an extremely low profile for temporary hemorrhage control and resuscitation. COBRA-OS (Control of Bleeding, Resuscitation, Arterial Occlusion System) is the first 4 French REBOA (resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta) device and the smallest of its kind on the market.

Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the COBRA-OS for use in trauma and emergency situations until the patient can get definitive care. Dr. Parekh and her team are working to make this life-saving device accessible worldwide and to help grow the applicable markets for it, such as for the military, for women experiencing postpartum hemorrhage, and for non-traumatic cardiac arrest.

Dr. Parekh studied biomedical engineering at Western University in London, Ontario. She earned a Ph.D., followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Western University and the London Health Sciences Centre, which was just the beginning of several patents, publications, grants, and funding opportunities to come. The fellowships entailed engineering new medical devices for unmet medical needs, research in movement disorders, medical device assessment and enhancement, and patient assessment. Through these experiences to innovate, Dr. Parekh decided she wanted to do more meaningful work, and entrepreneurship offered a way to accomplish her goals. Her passion for medical device innovation continues to grow, and she is excited to help make a global impact with Front Line. She is also active in Women in Engineering and entrepreneurial communities and engages with various groups to discuss her views and experiences in these spaces.

This article appeared on the Magazine of the Society of Women Engineers.

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