CAROL SUMICHRAST

SUMMARY

Senior Product Designer with a proven track record delivering high-stakes military and commercial remote health monitoring platforms end-to-end, from early problem definition to shipped product. Deep experience designing for clinicians and expert users in regulated environments — bridging complex clinical workflows, engineering constraints, and regulatory requirements without flattening the nuance experts need. Background spans human factors testing, clinical trial design, and strict compliance (ADA/WCAG, IRB, MLR), with experience mentoring junior designers in system design workflows.

CORE SKILLS

• Product & UX Design: UX Research, User Experience Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Mobile Design Best Practices, Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Adobe Creative Cloud, Claude, Claude Design, Microsoft Copilot, Phoenix Code, Information Architecture, Native iOS/Android Design (React Native), Desktop Portals
• Clinical & Domain Expertise: Human Factors Testing, Clinical Study Design, Clinician-Facing Workflow Design, UAT Scripting, Clinical Benchmarking, Data Workflows
• Compliance & Systems: ADA/WCAG, IRB Approvals, MLR Review, Veeva Vault PromoMats, Salesforce, Tableau, Atlassian (Jira/Confluence), Event Logistics Management

EXPERIENCE

• Owned end-to-end product delivery by converting complex stakeholder and clinical requirements into wireframes, technical specs, and acceptance criteria, in close partnership with engineering.
• Launched a military remote-monitoring platform in React Native — providing real-time physiological health tracking (heat strain, cardiac stress, alertness) with native iOS/Android and desktop parity to ensure Warfighter readiness. At its AEWE debut the platform captured 48 soldier-missions with zero field failures; it has since been stress-tested across 40+ military fielding events and pushes live analytics to ATAK, WinTAK, and BATDOK.
• Led in-context human factors research — conducted studies, including in-use observation and System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaires, at cardiac rehab, sleep, and structural heart centers and military training sites to observe real clinical workflows and benchmark device usability, mitigating risk.
• Designed directly for clinical end-users — developed a commercial healthcare platform in React Native enabling clinicians to track patient metrics and cardiologists to interact with test results to support diagnosis, with native iOS/Android and desktop parity. Usability research on the clinician app led to a new device applicator.
• Championed accessibility and inclusivity within the product design system to achieve full ADA and WCAG compliance across localized platforms.
• Authored clinical documentation and ensured trial readiness by developing study protocols, IRB approvals, specialized SOPs, and Instructions for Use (IFU), while directly verifying accurate product setup and labeling for each study.
• Developed internal tooling — design systems that internal clinicians and engineers actually use to prepare devices for specific tests or studies, across a fleet of about 10,000 devices.

• Delivered omnichannel digital assets — including emails, interactive banners, digital flashcards, and website aids — across the cardiovascular therapeutic and medical device arenas.
• Accelerated deployment timelines by partnering with developers to translate approved copy and visual designs directly into optimized HTML assets.
• Managed end-to-end regulatory workflows by routing assets via Jira and submitting final deliverables to Veeva for strict J&J Medical, Legal, Regulatory (MLR), and QA approvals.
• Led cross-functional Sprint planning under the Agile framework, collaborating with global contributors, copywriters, client brand managers during three-week Sprints and daily stand-ups.

• Led end-to-end product design for a complex portfolio of healthcare and managed care applications Managed Care, Cancer Center Profiles, PBMs, Health Technology Assessments.
• Designed SPOptimizer, which in 2021 tracked and ranked 85+ specialty pharmacy candidates and profiled 50+ IDN-owned and institutional specialty pharmacies.
• Conducted user research and analysis by executing stakeholder interviews, user surveys, and data synthesis to define user personas, user stories, and product strategies.
• Designed cross-platform interfaces (desktop and mobile) for client portals, utilizing iterative wireframes, prototypes, and a streamlined visual hierarchy to make complex data easily digestible.
• Managed the market research product lifecycle from initial kickoff and vendor assignment through to final approval, UAT scripting, validation testing, and multi-format deployment (HTML, PPT, PDF).
• Streamlined cross-functional workflows across research, editorial, and design teams while mentoring junior designers on UX principles, visual hierarchy, and copyright law.
• Leveraged Salesforce infrastructure to integrate the self-service product portal with the company’s product portfolio, manage inventory, and build seamless customer login portals for subscribing to additional services.
• Created and ran monthly client webinars tailored to each service line, keeping subscribers engaged and informed as new capabilities rolled out.
• Reviewed and refined Tableau visualizations built by a Tableau integration partner, ensuring interactive charts across client-facing services helped clients clearly tell their story against competitors.
• Drove go-to-market, sales, and marketing enablement by designing targeted webinar pipelines, establishing brand standards, collaborating with agencies on industry publications (MM&M; Quirk’s), and organizing Salesforce product portfolios and price books.

• Led the department overseeing packaging design and marketing materials for an innovative bottle manufacturer, managing complex 4-color print production runs across the U.S., Thailand, and China.
• Designed custom retail packaging and 3D prototypes for major accounts, including structural die lines (box, hang tags, blister, clamshell) and a 16-package point-of-purchase display for Walmart’s Parent’s Choice brand.

• Owned and operated a design agency, supervising cross-functional teams of designers and writers to deliver high-quality creative projects on time and within budget.
• Marketed and deployed design solutions for a diverse B2B and technology client portfolio, including Help Desk Institute, FastPlanet, MCI Systemhouse, and MCI WorldCom.

• Managed design team to deliver marketing materials and business proposals for commercial and federal business development, securing an SBI clearance to develop 24 training manuals for the U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Postal Service.
• Standardized user-friendly documentation and trade show assets, coordinating vendor relations for high-profile clients including The Wall Street Journal, NeXT Computer Company, Royal Bank of England, and Tupperware.

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS

• MEd, Instructional Design | University of Massachusetts | Boston, MA
• BFA, Graphic Design | Old Dominion University | Norfolk, VA
• Good Clinical Practice | NIDA Clinical Trials Network
• GCP for Clinical Investigations of Devices | CITI Training
• Specialization in User Research, UID & Prototyping | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• Front-End Development (HTML5 / CSS3) | University of Michigan