Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Kelly Townsend Jennings and I'm a Process Engineer at HeartFlow. HeartFlow is a biomedical imaging startup that takes CT images of a patient's coronary arteries, runs them through image processing algorithms and trained analyst review to create a 3D model of the arteries, and then does computational fluid modeling to understand the effects of coronary artery disease in that person's heart, for diagnostic purposes. We received de novo clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for our technology late last year, which is a huge step in the medical device industry!
I work with our Production and Engineering teams to develop and validate the process for the case analysts to use our software and develop new software to create the 3D models more accurately and efficiently.
When I'm not working, I like to travel to cold places with lots of mountains and hike, ski, drink and eat.
What hardware do you use?
At work I use a Dell PC (Windows 7) with two 24" monitors and 16GB of memory. My mouse is a Logitech Performance MX mouse, which is really great for navigating through large CT datasets. I use Bose SoundSport earbuds while I work (in orange!). I have a standing desk with my monitors on the finest reams of paper as risers.
At home I have a HP Envy 6t laptop - I don't really bring it around with me but in general I've really enjoyed it as a "sit on the couch and fiddle around" laptop. I have an iPhone 6s which has been a huge improvement in photo quality over my previous 4s, so I use it for picture taking a lot more. When I'm traveling I use my Canon PowerShot SX260 HS, which is by far my favorite point-and-shoot I've ever owned - nice wide angle lens but with 20x optical zoom - perfect hiking/nature camera. I'm also a big fan of my Fitbit Charge HR - 24 hour heart rate monitoring data makes this medical device data cruncher very happy.
And what software?
At work, I constantly use the usual Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio), plus our internal Imaging Workstation and other HeartFlow-made software for looking at our 3D models. I also use MeshLab and ParaView and various open source DICOM viewers to look at our 3D models and CT data. I am working on increasing my use of Minitab for doing smarter stats than Excel can handle. I listen to Pandora and Spotify while I work, and use Chrome for my Internet needs. Virtually everyone at Heartflow is a heavy Google Docs user for collaboration and tracking of progress, myself included.
At home, primarily use Chrome, Pandora, and Spotify. I use Flickr for posting travel pictures and sharing them with family and friends.
What would be your dream setup?
My dream work setup would be pretty much my computer as it is now, maybe with even more memory so it wouldn't bog down at all even when I have a ton of big CT datasets open. But I'm not that picky about my computers. Maybe a comfier stool to switch to when I want to sit? And a cube closer to the windows at our office that overlook the Bay?
At home, I'd love to have a nice fancy SLR camera to take better pictures when I'm traveling, but somehow it would only weigh the same amount as my Canon PowerShot. I'm not hardcore enough about photography for it to be worth carrying a heavy camera for me.