Tag: engineer

From Intern to Innovator: A Systems Engineer’s Journey at Molecular Devices

Gaining industry experience can be a game-changer when you’re completing college and entering the workforce. That’s why internships can be so valuable. Just ask Zhiqiang Zhang, a systems engineer at Molecular Devices (a Danaher business), whose college internship at the company jump-started his award-winning engineering career in the life sciences.

Here are four things Zhiqiang gained by joining Molecular Devices.

Zhiqiang visiting the seaside city of Pingtan Island with his family on vacation last summer.

1. A clear path of professional growth, right out of college

Before graduating from China University of Mining and Technology in 2016, Zhiqiang was thrilled to land a full-time internship with Molecular Devices’ engineering department in Shanghai. For the next 18 months, he supported manufacturing teams in resolving various internal quality issues with microplate readers.

“I didn’t know much about Molecular Devices or Danaher before taking the internship—but I’m very glad I made the leap,” he said. “The internship really set my direction in life sciences and unlocked my path for professional growth.”

The internship also gave Zhiqiang the opportunity to experience the company culture and determine if it was a good fit.

“The overall atmosphere at Molecular Devices is very relaxed,” he said. “We can all share ideas openly, and individual efforts and abilities are valued and rewarded. Molecular Devices really values product quality, and I believe any company that values the quality of its products is a great place to work.”

For Zhiqiang, Molecular Devices was indeed the perfect fit. After graduation, he was offered a permanent role as a manufacturing engineer in the Shanghai plant’s Operations department, making him the first intern to be hired by the company for an engineering role. He welcomed the opportunity and has never looked back.

Four years later, when the company established a new R&D department in Shanghai, Zhiqiang was matched as a great candidate for an open role through Danaher Go, an internal program that helps Danaher companies promote from within. He was offered the role, which was a promotion, and was excited to take on new responsibilities as a mechanical engineer. A few years later, he was promoted again—this time to his current role as a systems engineer.

2. Countless opportunities to excel and succeed

Today, Zhiqiang enjoys many facets of his work, including formulating design schemes, solving problems that arise from system integration, and conducting final system verification. But what he really loves is contributing to product innovation.

“I’ve had many memorable moments in my career to date, but one highlight was launching the first R&D product I worked on—the SpectraMax® Mini Multi-Mode Microplate Reader,” he said. “Beyond the successful launch, it won Danaher China’s New Product Gold Award at the 2023 Danaher Innovation Awards. That was my first time standing on such a big platform to share the successful experience of our project and receive the award on behalf of the team.”

Another standout moment for Zhiqiang came in 2022, when he became his department’s first “Outstanding Associate” award winner—an annual honor bestowed on those who meet exceptional performance and career development goals.

Looking ahead, Zhiqiang is excited about opportunities for future growth. Eventually, he’d love to become a senior systems engineer, a department manager, or even the chief engineer overseeing the entire Shanghai R&D department. Based on his impressive track record to date, these ambitions aren’t a stretch.

3. A culture of innovation

At Molecular Devices, associates are passionate about equipping researchers with next-generation technology that advances scientific discovery. By developing innovative solutions, the company helps customers unravel the complexity of biological systems and develop new therapeutics, to improve the quality of life worldwide.

Zhiqiang loves being part of it all.

“The life sciences industry has always attracted me—I love all the high-tech equipment, but especially the innovation behind it,” he said. “In my first job as a manufacturing engineer, I became keenly aware of how important product quality is to customers. Now as a systems engineer, I can influence device quality at the beginning of the design, and I always push our teams to design for quality and reliability. Our goal is to provide robust, innovative devices to improve scientists’ work efficiency.”

4. A caring, supportive community

Another thing Zhiqiang enjoys is the sense of belonging he’s found within his work community. These strong connections began early on.

“I remember just after graduation my father was seriously injured in a car accident and was in the Intensive Care Unit for several weeks. Our savings quickly ran out,” said Zhiqiang. “My colleagues in various departments took the initiative to collect and donate money to help tide me over during the initial financial difficulties. They are generous in their support—a true community.”

Strong work relationships like these go a long way to creating a happier, healthier and more engaged workplace—and for Zhiqiang, they provide one more confirmation that he’s in the right company, doing the right work with the right people.

Want to learn more about careers like Zhiqiang’s?

Learn more about working at Molecular Devices, a Danaher Life Sciences business, and apply for open roles.

Explore careers at Molecular Devices

May 17, 2025
Engineering Manager, Shanti Pi, on Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Helping Patients at HemoCue

If Shanti Pi’s colleagues at Danaher’s India Development Center (IDC) hadn’t encouraged her, she might never have applied for her role at HemoCue. More than two years later, she’s leading a team of engineers—and helping the IDC itself grow as well. Below, Shanti explains her day-to-day work, what’s hard about her job, and why she finds it all so rewarding.

What do you do at HemoCue?

There are two parts to my role. The first is as an engineering manager for standalone software solutions, including our HealthTrender Anemia product. When a health care provider inserts a blood sample into a HemoCue analyzer, it displays the results for them—and those results can also be transferred via Bluetooth to an application on a mobile device, where they can add demographic information. That data is then added to a central repository, so governments and NGOs can monitor and evaluate their screening programs at the population level.

My team is responsible for software deliverables from end to end. As a medical device company, we’re of course subject to rules and regulations, and we reach out to headquarters for guidance on that. But otherwise, we’re set up to be completely independent in planning, building, and deploying releases. It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s exciting for us and it gives us lots of opportunities to learn.

I’m also the HemoCue site lead for the India Development Center here in Bangalore, which is an umbrella organization that’s home to teams from multiple Danaher operating companies. I help promote support and collaboration between OpCos. Sometimes, in terms of career growth—if one of our team members is interested in a certain role, for example, and there’s a Beckman Coulter associate at IDC currently in that job, I might connect the two of them. We also work together on technology and solutions, helping each other grow and expand. And we seek and provide help from other OpCos for participation in and facilitation of Kaizens, which are weeklong problem-solving workshops.

Tell us about your path to this role.

Health care has always been close to my heart—seeing how my day-to-day work affects people’s lives is really important to me. I started my career with Allscripts, which provides electronic health record systems, then moved to Siemens as a product analyst before joining Beckman in 2016 to work on cloud projects. Back then, the IDC was just getting started. I’ve been able to see the whole journey, from a single OpCo to now.

When this position with HemoCue initially opened up, I didn’t think I’d even apply. They were looking for someone to establish the company’s first R&D team outside of Sweden, for both software and hardware—software development of mobile, web, and cloud applications had been outsourced up until that point. I didn’t have any experience with hardware, and I’d never been a people manager. But the IDC leadership had faith in me, and they explained their top priority was finding someone who was transparent and trustworthy. They encouraged me to just apply and see what happened.

I remember telling my husband after the last round of interviews that I didn’t think I’d get the job—I felt that just getting to the point where I was interviewing with the president of the company was an achievement in itself. But they ended up offering me the role, and I jumped at it. Two years later, I’ve been able to handpick 12 team members, and we’re on track to add two more this year.

How has HemoCue supported your learning and growth?

I’m extremely grateful the universe gave me Magnus Tunklev, who is such a supportive manager. From the start, I’ve always felt like he trusts me, and I can tell him about anything that is difficult or a pain point. He suggests possible solutions and helps me see the big picture. And—this was an eye-opener for me—he never forgets to ask how I’m actually feeling. It’s not just about me as a leader, but as a person.

He’s also made sure I’m plugged into the right meetings and connected with the right mentors, and everyone at both IDC and HemoCue has been so supportive. I’ve tried to carry that forward for my own team, as well. Each of us—including myself—starts out with a “buddy” from the company who’s in a similar role to our own; they help us not only learn the logistics of working at HemoCue but really immerse ourselves in the culture. It’s given us a foundation that makes day-to-day decisions much easier.

What are some of the challenges you’re taking on?

One challenge for me is balancing the HemoCue and IDC perspectives. We need to belong in both organizations, and that can sometimes be tricky. What works for our team in terms of working style or flexibility, for instance, might not work for another OpCo’s IDC team.

Another interesting challenge is identifying how we can best support the Hardware and Firmware teams in Sweden. Because we work remotely we’re somewhat limited in how we can contribute from IDC, but we’ve found creative ways to collaborate on new product development, sustainability and firmware projects. And we’re learning and getting better with each experience.

But the most interesting of all challenges is expanding HealthTrender—adding new features, rolling out to existing and new markets, improving connectivity, and extending HealthTrender to other solutions. We work closely with Marketing and Sales, and it’s hard to overstate the sense of accomplishment we all feel as key players in achieving something meaningful to human health and wellbeing.

What are you looking forward to right now?

Continuing to take our solution global. We started out building specifically for India, and that’s wonderful. When I talk with candidates, they’re thrilled about the idea of building for people in this country and contributing to the Indian government’s health missions, because so many of us have previously only worked on products for the U.S. or Europe. But it’s also exciting to expand. Last year, we took our solution global, moving into Mexico and Egypt, and in the coming year we’ll be adding a few other countries. Of course, each country comes with its own challenges in terms of languages, governance, and regulations on data privacy.

We’re also expanding our platforms later this year—we already have the web portal, which is written in Java, and the Android product, and we’ll soon have the opportunity to launch on iOS. We’re also exploring potential cross-OpCo collaborations, which is one of the benefits of the IDC. Is there something another company is doing that we can tap into at HemoCue, or a solution we can provide to them?

Finally, we’re thinking about expanding beyond HealthTrender to other software solutions. I really look forward to seeing the things we build today in the market tomorrow, helping those patients and providers, and I feel very fortunate that I’m able to be part of it.

Want to join Shanti and the rest of the team at HemoCue? Check out open roles or join the Danaher talent community today.

October 11, 2023
Where Science Meets Access: How Daniela Rodriguez Helps Mammotome Provide Life-Saving Technology

After childhood dreams of being a doctor, Supplier Management Engineer Daniela Rodriguez found a career path that blends her skills in math and her passion for problem-solving by helping others through medical technology. Daniela explains her journey to mechanical engineering and Mammotome, her involvement in Danaher’s LatinX + Friends Associate Resource Group, and why considering gender and race is crucial to providing quality medical care.

Tell me a bit about Mammotome and your role there.

Mammotome is a global leader in breast cancer diagnostics and surgical solutions. We pioneered vacuum-assisted breast biopsy, which improved breast cancer diagnostics, as well as the overall patient experience because the procedure is minimally invasive. It was a real game-changer in the industry.

I’m a supplier management engineer, which means I’m the bridge between our contract manufacturing suppliers and us. Day-to-day, I facilitate conversations with our contract manufacturers, everything from helping out with quality changes to delivery issues. In our group, we like to call ourselves firefighters, because when issues arise, we’re the first to know. We put out the fires by finding solutions, both in the moment and for the long term.

I also created and now oversee our obsolescence program, which addresses parts of our equipment from suppliers that are getting older and maybe going out of production, not recommended for new design, or parts that are hard to procure. We try to forecast the demand and find alternates if possible. It’s a cross-functional effort within our company—everybody’s involved.

My work is very dynamic. Every day is different, which is why I enjoy my job. It keeps my blood pumping!

What sparked your interest in engineering? And what brought you to Mammotome?

Part of it is that engineering runs in my family: My father was a mechanical engineer. He’d studied and worked in the U.S. but later moved back to Colombia, married my mom and had me. When I was a teenager, we immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia in pursuit of a better life. Math and science were always my strongest subjects—I think partly because they’re universal. It didn’t matter that I was learning them in my second language. I’d always wanted to be a doctor because identifying and solving problems fascinated me, and problem-solving is also what drove me to love engineering. Engineering allowed me to combine my passion for medical work with my skills in math. So I became the first female engineer in my family.

After getting my degree in mechanical engineering, I got a job at a contact lens manufacturer. That was in Atlanta, where I went to school. Eventually, I made my way to Ohio. I have family near Cincinnati, which is a major biomedical hub, with companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, and, of course, Mammotome. I knew about Mammotome’s top-of-the-line products, but what really attracted me was the cause and how the company puts patients first.

Being a woman, the issue of breast cancer hits close to home. On one hand, it doesn’t matter what your social, racial, or political background is. Cancer is something that is a risk to all of us. On the other hand, Hispanic women are one of the least likely groups to seek out preventative measures for breast cancer. There are lots of reasons—finances, language barriers, lack of health insurance—but, as a Hispanic woman, this issue really speaks to me.

Knowing that we are impacting women’s lives motivates me to get up each morning and do the best I can.

How have you learned and grown at Mammotome?

When I first started here, Danaher Business System (DBS) tools quickly oriented me with the basics, so I could hit the ground running. From there, I was blessed with a great team and manager who helped me. I learn by asking questions. I’m definitely not a shy person when it comes to not knowing things, and the culture at Mammotome welcomes people who want to learn, to know more, and to continuously improve. Furthermore, my boss trusts me to take on new tasks, while still providing guidance if I need it. Their management style really works well for me, and we get along great.

The obsolescence program is a great example of a task he gave me to really take on and make my own. Before I started, people would talk through a list of components every week, but we’ve improved the process by adding timelines, clarifying end goals, and allocating resources. Now, the obsolescence program has become one of our biggest cross-department meetings and has helped prevent serious supply chain obstacles. Sourcing components remains an ongoing challenge, not only because of the pandemic but also due to other global crises like a water shortage in Taiwan, where half of the world’s semiconductors are made, for example. But the program has done a lot, and it’s something that I’m very proud of owning and working on.

Finally, I’ve also grown in terms of advocacy. I’m heavily involved within the company with Danaher’s LatinX + Friends Associate Resource Group (ARG), Mammotome Inclusion and Belonging initiatives, the Society of Women Engineers and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. My focus is on advocating for and increasing the representation of Hispanic women in roles like mine.

Tell us more about your advocacy work and participation with the LatinX + Friends ARG.

Women, especially women of color, are underrepresented in STEM. That data speaks for itself, but I also learned about the additional challenges we face from an early age, when my father explained, “You have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good.” I think times are changing, and I want to see and be a part of that change. That’s why it’s important for me to be part of the LatinX group. No one else in my direct department is in that ARG, so I like to keep people informed about what we do.

I think people forget how many different Hispanic identities there are, especially in Latin America. Sometimes people can’t find my home country, Colombia, on a map, or they misspell it with a “u.” If you put a Colombian, an Argentinian, and a Mexican person in a room, we’re all going to speak differently and have different customs. So with the LatinX + Friends ARG, I get to learn more about other cultures while also teaching fellow associates about my own. We’re proud of our Hispanic heritage 365 days a year, not just in October. It can be hard to have conversations about race, especially for me, as someone who is non-confrontational. I’m trying to learn—by taking courses and just through better understanding—how to handle a room and get my point across without it being too personal or too emotional.

As a Colombian, I want to create a positive memory for people. And as a woman, too. There weren’t a lot of female engineers as role models for me growing up, but those few that were there, like my professors in college, really inspired me. I’d like to be an inspiration for future generations.

What’s next in your career? What are you excited about?

I’m excited to connect more in person. I started just a few months before the pandemic hit, so most of my work has been online. That meant I was able to work from Colombia for several months and spend a lot of time with my family, which was wonderful. But I’m definitely a people person, and, once it’s safe, I would love to get more involved with Mammotome’s volunteer events in the community, maybe even create new volunteer opportunities. Data shows that Hispanic women respond more to community-based programs that promote proper breast care and early breast cancer detection, so this work is vital and important for my own advocacy goals.

Right now, I’m focused on doing my best work and learning from my peers. I would like to continue down my path at Danaher, which may lead to becoming a subject matter expert or, eventually, a people leader. I like to think I’m someone people can trust and communicate with. Being that type of leader inspires me, and I think with proper training I could be very successful in that role. Thanks to Danaher’s tools, I’ve been able to take some courses, and I know there is a guided path forward for career growth.

Interested in joining Daniela and the rest of the Danaher team? Check out open roles or join our talent community today.

September 12, 2023