Interview with Marjorie Rawhouser

Currently, Dr. Marjorie Rawhouser is an assistant professor of engineering at Frostburg State University and Anne Arundel Community College. She graduated from Penn State in 2000 with a Ph.D. in bioengineering. I had a great chance to discuss her dynamic career path during her visit to Penn State for the IPAC meeting.

Dr. Rawhouser first entered Penn State bioengineering for her master’s degree in 1990 where her study mainly focused on the motor control system in the ventricular system. She sought a big school experience and networking opportunities from Penn State. After her master’s degree, she worked in a hospital in Iowa as a clinical engineer where she managed the early clinical information technology. She decided to come back to Penn State, pursued her doctorate and worked in collaboration with the Penn State School of Medicine in the artificial heart lab. She worked on the artificial heart design and mathematical modeling, particularly the volumetric pump efficiency of artificial hearts. Dr. Rawhouser recalled the best part of working in Hershey was the massive collaborative opportunities from diverse medical fields and also the facile in vivo applications.

Shortly after her graduate studies, Rawhouser continued her interest in artificial heart and medical devices at ABIOMED, Inc. in the Boston area. She worked as a quality engineer supervising product assurance, design confirmation, and complicated FDA approval. Her prior doctoral study had emphasis on the evaluation of medical device quality, and her thorough understanding in device design and marketing fostered her position in the medical device business. She also worked briefly in a medical consulting company where she designed animal studies and consulted regulatory affairs based on her experience in medical device.

After her graduate study, Rawhouser decided on a sharp career change and joined the Iraq War as a U.S. Navy liaison officer. During her two-year service in Iraq, she worked closely with the U.N. to help displaced persons across the refugee camps. She remembered her experience in Iraq as extraordinary and was reluctant to leave the base at the end as the crisis was not resolved yet.

Dr. Rawhouser returned from her service in Iraq in 2007 and devoted her career to teaching - something she is very passionate about - but said she misses the medical device industry. It seems that her dynamic career still has potential to alter directions. She truly enjoyed the IPAC meeting and was glad to find the Department of Biomedical Engineering prospering and hopes to participate in future IPAC events.

- Soo Park, doctoral studnet in biomedical engineering