Articulate physiology and pharmacology doctor with strong foundation in pharmacology and 18+ years of experience researching, analyzing, and evaluating scientific data. Science expert who uses research knowledge and communication skills to connect with internal and external stakeholders and advance company objectives.
Patent Training Advisor|
United States Patent and Trademark Office
From July 2023 to Current • 3 year(s)
• Program Manager in the Office of Patent Stakeholder Experience (OPSE) for the Stakeholder Application Readiness Training, Patents Boot Camp and the Pre-Application Assessment Pilot programs establishing the overall goals, objectives, and operational plans for each program, with continual assessment and adjustments as needed.
• Created, developed, and implemented the Pre-application Assessment Pilot Program as part of the Unleashing American Innovators Act, educating first-time prospective patent applications about public patent search tools, leading to 175 people expressing interest and multiple iterations of the program, resulting in an overall Net Promotor Score of 100, indicating a high level of satisfaction and the likelihood of participants recommending the program to others.
• Ensure that all OPSE programs support and advance Agency goals, contributing to the overall mission of fostering innovation and improving stakeholder experience.
• Collaborate with development teams to update and refine content for the Virtual Assistance tool, offering insight and recommendations to enhance the functionality and content.
• Effectively coordinates USPTO personnel and resources to successfully execute OPSE programs and leads informational sessions to communicate program objectives, updates, and key information.
Supervisory Patent Examiner|
United States Patent and Trademark Office
From June 2015 to Current • 11 year(s)
• Supervises 10 patent examiners, ensuring complete and accurate assessment of biotechnology patent applications.
• Conducts interviews with external customers, including attorneys and patent applicants, assessing scientific information, clearly communicating possible scientific or legal issues, and ensuring overall compliance with organizational standards.
• Clearly communicates in both written and oral form, relaying organizational policies, and scientific information to colleagues and executive management.
• Continuously researches U.S. and foreign applications and patents, prior patent applications, and other non-patent literature, determining the patentability of inventions and staying current on scientific literature.
• Assesses employee training needs, develops a quality improvement plan to address those needs, and conveys relevant information to executive management, leading to additional employee development opportunities.
• Executes managerial tasks—reviewing production reports, case statuses, docket management, and processing classification challenges—in a timely, efficient manner.
• Optimizes total patent pendency by monitoring the timely processing of applications and meeting patent corps goals by maintaining the percent inventory of responses at less than 4 months for amended applications at 99% and for continued examination applications at 100% at the end of FY22, exceeding the patent corps results of 98% and 88% respectively.
• Trained and mentored up to 18 employees on industry best practices, including 6 who earned promotions and 3 who increased their productivity to earn monetary bonuses.
• Earned the U.S. Department of Commerce Exceptional Career Award in FY19, for superior Federal service contributing to the Office’s mission and goals over a sustained period.
Acting Technology Center Director|
United States Patent and Trademark Office
From February 2021 to June 2021 • 0 year(s)
• Managed Workgroup 1610, ensuring progress towards completion of the FY21 Quality Improvement Plan.
• Planned and implemented a State of Technology Center (TC) 1600 meeting with updates on the status and future directions regarding patent examination quality, pendency, classification, and routing.
• Authorized requests to withdraw patent applications from issue before the payment of the issue fee.
• Reviewed communications from the Office of Patent Quality Assurance for non-compliance, ensuring an appropriate response.
• Determined management and patent examiner staffing needs in partnership with TC 1600 Directors.
• Collaborated with TC 1600 Directors on clear and concise communications to external stakeholders and customers.
• Interacted with colleagues on Patent-related initiatives, including Technology Center Realignment strategies.
Advisor to the Office of the Commissioner for Patents|
United States Patent and Trademark Office
From February 2020 to May 2020 • 0 year(s)
• Collaborated on establishing, designing and maintaining a SharePoint site to provide a centralized location for COVID-19 and mandatory/maximum telework information, leading to a Special Act award.
• Assisted in coordinating external speakers to speak on change management for a Patents Management meeting.
• Effectively communicated in writing and orally with internal and external stakeholders.
• Set up, attended, and facilitated meetings, tracked and documented all action items, and ensured proper follow-up.
• Ensured deadlines and timelines were met.
• Conducted research and prepared briefing materials.
• Collaborated with the Office of the Commissioner for Patents staff.
Primary Patent Examiner|
United States Patent and Trademark Office
From July 2012 to June 2015 • 3 year(s)
• Researched and evaluated pharmaceutical patent applications in a variety of fields, such as neurology, pharmacology, physiology, oncology, cardiology, dermatology, and chemistry. This included timely submittal of written decisions and justifications to applicants and their representatives.
• Trained 2 junior patent examiners, coaching them in best practices and relevant medical/technological advances.
• Visited pharmaceutical and biotech companies to study differing technologies, maintaining strong working relationships and contributing to the USPTO’s positive public image.
• Earned the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for superior government performance in the quality of examination of patent applications over a sustained period of time.
Patent Examiner|
United States and Trademark Office
From April 2006 to July 2012 • 6 year(s)
• Reviewed multiple pharmaceutical patent applications simultaneously, including patents in the neurology, pharmacology, physiology, oncology, cardiology, dermatology, and chemistry fields.
• Researched, analyzed, and reported on patent applications, consistently submitting written decisions and justifications to applicants and their representatives before deadlines.
• Reviewed applications for compliance with statutes under Title 35 of the United States Code §101, §102, §103, and §112, documenting results.
• Used PubMed, EAST, WEST, STN, and other literature databases to research scientific literature on potential patents during application review.
