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Women of Distinction

so she parted ways and moved
on to another position.
Shawnnah industry for a year and a half at
“I ended up in the defense
Rockwell Collins. I basically did
the same type of work but in a
Monterrey different industry, and it was the
first time I was not hands on. In
my previous role I used to still
program and was very involved
in designing the technology.
Breaking Ground and This was the first time that I had
to manage a large team of 50
Reaching New Heights people and was in a complete
hands-off position.
This taught Shawnnah some
important skills, including the
By Judith A. Habert importance of communication
and being able to trust those
you lead. A tempting job offer
came next for Shawnnah and
she went to work for Covidien,
which was acquired by Medtron-
AM OFTEN AMAZED BY THE her daughter. During her last learning detection algorithm ic Minimally Invasive Therapies. “I
I determination and drive that year of college, her second embedded inside!” worked on portable and critical
I see from so many women daughter Jazmine was born. This was a perfect start to a ca- care ventilators in the very
whom I interview, but I suppose With all of these responsibilities reer that even surpassed Shawn- important position of making
that might have something to on her shoulders, she man- nah’s own original career goals. sure all of our products met the
do with the fact that they have aged to obtain her Bachelor of Having started her college studies highest level of FDA standards.”
been nominated as “Women of Science degree in computer in the biomedical field, and then When Shawnnah first started
Distinction.” Shawnnah Mon- science. switching to computer science, with this company, they had a
terrey is a fitting example of a Shawnnah went right into this first position incorporated ev- class one recall for their flagship
woman who set forth on a path her first job upon graduation, erything she loved. She flourished ventilators. “My position came
and never looked back. “I started “My first job was working for a in her position and after just three with a lot of responsibility, to the
working at 15 ½ and have never company called Laser Diag- years she was leading a team of company, to the patients, and
stopped. I first started working nostic Technologies. They were engineers, most of whom were on to the government regulators to
at Burger King and I was always building diagnostic instruments average 2.5 times her age. While assure that our products worked
dedicated to everything I did. for Glaucoma detection. So, there, Carl Zeiss Meditec acquired flawlessly and performed their
As a result, I advanced quickly in I jumped headfirst into the the company, but she remained lifesaving ability while endan-
every job I held, and was always technology and regulatory with them another 5 years gering no one.”
quickly moved into management space. These devices, at the time through the transition. She had a When Shawnnah was offered
positions. So even at a young in 2000, were groundbreak- long and fruitful career spanning a position with Invetech, she de-
age, I had an acute sense of ing devices that required FDA a decade working at the company cided it would be a good change
responsibility.” clearance. These products had she started with straight out of for her to get more involved with
Shawnnah’s experiences true artificial intelligence (AI) college. life sciences and lab automation
with minimum wage part-time using algorithms for detecting It was at this point that and soon found herself working
positions really motivated her Glaucoma. They were the first there was a relocation of her back in medical device software
to go to college, because she of its kind to get cleared by the company to Northern California, development. “Invetech does
realized that without a college FDA. This was the first medi- but Shawnnah, a diehard San both software development and
degree it would be unlikely that cal product that I worked on, Diegan, did not want to leave her medical device development.
she would advance into the and it actually was built with a family and uproot her children, It is a consulting company that
position to which she aspired. builds medical devices products
Shawnnah attended UCSD and for other companies. They have
majored in biomedical engi- large accounts that we would
neering, but after investigating work on, and I built up the
trending job opportunities technical project management
switched over to computer side of the business and was
science. During her second year also responsible for the software
of college she became pregnant engineers in the San Diego site.
with her first daughter Marissa, I was also responsible for going
but that did not deter her. She on roadshows with our business
continued attending college, development team and the
working part time, and raising program managers to help sell
Photos Courtesy of Shawnnah Monterrey
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