Hi, I'm Anastasia, a dually trained Human Factors Engineer and Senior UX Researcher with 10+ years in safety-critical UX from healthcare to aviation.

Formative Usability Evaluation, Surgical Robotic System · BlackHagen Design, Fortune 100 medical device client (NDA)

Context. A Fortune 100 medical device company's next-generation surgical robotic system, undergoing formative usability evaluation ahead of FDA clearance for US market entry.

Challenge. Validate that surgical teams could safely operate the device console in high-stress OR environments, with particular risk concentrated in instrument insertion and hand-control calibration, under FDA HFE Guidance and IEC 62366-1.

Solution. Supported a mock-OR usability study with sterile-field fidelity across four surgical roles: surgeon, surgical assistant, circulating nurse, and scrub nurse/tech. Contributed to participant screener development, in-session observation, and initial drafting of the Use-Related Risk Assessment.

Methods & Tools. Think-Aloud Protocol · Task-Based Usability Testing · Use-Related Risk Assessment (URRA) · IFU & Documentation Review

Frameworks. IEC 62366-1 · ISO 14971 · FDA HFE Guidance · FDA 510(k)

Ablation Console UI Modernization · Kognio Labs, Confidential medical device client (NDA)

Context. A medical device company's microwave ablation system for interventional radiology and oncology, undergoing a console UI modernization, consolidating a legacy two-screen, dual-arm configuration into a single consolidated display for use in the IR suite.

Challenge. Identify HFE risk and establish design direction for a display consolidation that could not alter workflow, functionality, or layout, while satisfying IEC 60601-1-8 alarm color constraints and ensuring critical numeric readouts remained legible during active procedures.

Solution. Conducted systematic review of all UI states and hardware photographs, identifying use-error risks across visual hierarchy, alarm system conflicts, distance legibility, and button differentiation. Produced an eight-dimension Design Trend Brief and Ablation Screen Spec Addendum with options-based direction, per-option considerations, and a decision-tracking column.

Methods & Tools. HFE Risk Analysis · UI Heuristic Review · Design Trend Brief · Options-Based Spec Deliverables · IEC 60601-1-8 Alarm Color Compliance Review · Distance Legibility Analysis

Frameworks. IEC 60601-1-8 · AAMI HE75 · FDA HFE Guidance

Statewide Medicaid eHR Implementation & Change Management · research initiative within a university social work program

Context. Medicaid agency implementing a new electronic health record system for intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) care coordination, including an embedded Level of Care Tool for clinical decision support.

Challenge. A new eHR system launched alongside a major change-management shift from paper-based documentation, increasing cognitive load, disrupting clinician-patient rapport, and introducing new use errors across the statewide rollout.

Solution. Served as embedded field researcher and clinical implementation advisor, running ethnography, contextual inquiry, usability testing, A/B testing, focus groups, and interviews across all four rollout phases. Translated findings into quarterly stakeholder reports and statewide clinician training.

Methods & Tools. Ethnography · Contextual Inquiry · Usability Testing · A/B Testing · Focus Groups · Service Blueprint

Frameworks. HIPAA · Medicaid Waiver Compliance · DMH/BIDD Regulatory Requirements

AI Sales Intelligence, Biotech SaaS · Kognio Labs, Confidential client (NDA)

Context. A biotech company developing a SaaS sales coaching platform needed HFE-grounded design and evaluation for a dashboard used by sales representatives during and after client calls. No existing product benchmarks were provided; the engagement ran entirely from client-supplied process videos and whiteboard documentation.

Challenge. User interviews and workflow validation were proposed, scoped, and removed per client decision, leaving cognitive load patterns, information timing under active calls, and task flow assumptions unvalidated.

Solution. Led competitive analysis, user flow reconstruction, high-fidelity wireframe design, AI function specification, and heuristic evaluation across the full product. Benchmarked four direct competitors, identifying six market gaps and specifying four agentic AI modules with interaction constraints grounded in active-call cognitive load.

Methods & Tools. Competitive Analysis · User Flow Reconstruction · High-Fidelity Wireframing · AI Function Specification · Heuristic Evaluation · HFE Risk Documentation

Frameworks. Von Restorff Effect · Fitts's Law · Hick's Law · Miller's Law · Gestalt Principles

FliteDeck ProX · Jeppesen's FliteDeck ProX Electronic Flight Bag, ForeFlight, a Boeing Company

Context. ForeFlight, a Boeing company, building the airline industry's first fully integrated Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), consolidating flight planning, charts, weather, and hazard awareness into a single safety-critical tool.

Challenge. Pilots needed to replace fragmented, paper-based workflows without adding risk in high-workload cockpit environments, all while meeting strict FAA/EASA usability guidelines for the 4.8-to-5.0 feature transition.

Solution. Conducted high-fidelity LOFT simulation testing (real routes, diversions, geographic edge cases), moderated usability sessions using think-aloud, SUS, and NASA TLX, A/B testing of briefing and integration flows, and FAA/EASA heuristic evaluations. Led a gap analysis across 200+ airline operators globally to prioritize the roadmap.

Methods & Tools. LOFT Simulation Testing · Moderated Usability Testing (SUS, NASA TLX) · A/B Testing · Cognitive Walkthroughs · FAA/EASA Heuristic Evaluation

No Delay · Redesigning a legacy pilot operations platform, major global airline carrier

Context. One of the world's largest airline carriers, running a 40-year-old legacy platform for pilot and ground-support operations.

Challenge. An 18-section navigation structure buried critical pre-flight and post-flight information behind layers of submenus. With every piece of operational content living in the same surface, pilots and support staff faced severe information overload when they needed answers in seconds, not minutes.

Solution. Led a 10-month research engagement, 40+ interviews, live card sorting, contextual inquiry with duty pilots in ground control, and iterative testing across web and mobile, to restructure the platform's information architecture from the ground up.

Methods & Tools. Contextual Inquiry · Card Sorting · Journey Mapping · Service Blueprint · Personas · Jobs-to-be-Done · A/B Testing · Aurelius · Dovetail · Airtable