Erik Andersen

About Erik

Erik works full-time as an insights research associate for Cambridge Design Partnership and part-time as an ICU nurse. Erik began his nursing career as a New Graduate Fellow in the ER after graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing. During his nursing program he enrolled in Biomedical Engineering courses which helped him determine his future goal: to leverage his experience at the bedside to identify problems and to design solutions that will revolutionize healthcare.

Erik’s J&J Nursing Innovation Fellow Journey

Erik initially pursued the Fellowship to develop new relationships and skills that would facilitate reaching his goals of improving the lives of patients, families and healthcare staff. During his Fellowship, Erik experienced transformational personal and professional change. He finished a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, welcomed his first child with his wife Julia, and left his position as a full-time ICU nurse to contribute the nursing perspective to medical device design. Erik still works part time in the ICU and brings the knowledge and experience he gains each day to his role at Cambridge Design Partnership. As a Fellow, Erik deeply appreciated the community of like-minded, innovative individuals, who all came together to try and solve the biggest problems facing healthcare.

For Erik, it’s essential to both “build the right thing and build the thing right.” Historically, medical devices have been built by engineers with little experience at the bedside. Erik wants to change that, by working with companies—including his current employer—to design medical devices that fit into the workflows and processes of healthcare workers, not the other way around. In other words, designing medical devices for nurses, by nurses. Without the Fellowship, Erik would not have had the community support and credibility to pursue this passion.