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ResMed Senior Global Product Manager, Brendan Woolsey, began his career with the company as an intern, following a work placement during his degree.He’s one of several Western Sydney University graduates to have landed a role with the medical device developer,and there’s a lot more potential in the pipeline.Third year Bachelor of Industrial Design student,Katie Oates, recently completed a work placement with ResMed, and says the three-week experience was eye opening. “It made me realise how relevant our coursework is to the industry,and how broad the job opportunities in industrial design can be,” she says.“Whether it’s a household item or a lifesaving product,everything needs to go through a thought process of how it’s designed and made.If it’s not done well, it can have a huge impact on your efficiency and your comfort level. If it’s a life-saving device, good design really is a matter of life or death.”
The profound impact of good industrial design is particularly poignant when it comes to medical devices. This is something Western Sydney University graduate Brendan Woolsey holds top of mind with his work as a Senior Global Product Manager with ResMed. Since completing a Bachelor of Industrial Design in 2010, Brendan has gone on to lead a team which brings revolutionary sleep apnoea treatment masks to the market, helping millions of patients across the world.Sleep apnoea affects 26 per cent of the Australian adult population and involves regular pauses in breathing during sleep,causing sufferers to wake up hundreds of times every night, putting a strain on their cardiovascular system and increasing the risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke and depression. ResMed’s CPAP machines, which deliver continuous pressurised air via a mask to keep the airway open, are life-changing for many of their users.
Brendan describes his team’s role as being“the voice of the market”. “We work with marketing teams all around the world to understand [their] customer and patient needs and translate these into marketing requirements,” he says. “We then go on the journey with some of the world’s best medical product development teams, based in Sydney,to design, develop and then commercialise the product.”The fundamentals Brendan draws upon in his daily work all trace back to his Western Sydney University degree. “A great product is a design that aligns with a business’s strategic direction,meets a specific market need, provides additional value over any competition and shows great return on investment,” he says.“Western’s industrial design degree touches on all these areas.”
Brendan Woolsey
Bachelor of Industrial Design, 2010
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