Ace
Heidi Leonard is a research chemist at NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Gaithersburg, MD. She lives in Baltimore with her one and half year-old cat, Ace who had developed digestive issues. Ace’s condition required multiple vet visits with Dr. Trujillo of Light Street Animal Hospital to pin down corrective diet changes. As you can imagine, when you develop a rapport with your vet during multiple visits over a short period of time, conversations go beyond small talk.
Dr. Trujillo shared that as the Coronavirus became more pervasive he was worried about bringing home the virus and resulting disease to his wife who has a compromised immune system. You see, masks were on back order and he was treating animals while their humans were present with no protection.
Prototyping for a PhD Project
Heidi had done her Ph.D. at the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, using microfluidic technology. In her research, Heidi needed to fabricate devices with very small features and through a Google search found Potomac Photonics in Baltimore. She remembers that she chose the company as they responded fastest allowing her to move quickly in her research.
Heidi has followed the company since her move to NIST and gets their Twitter updates on new projects. So when Dr. Trujillo mentioned his need for Personal Protection Equipment [PPE] she immediately thought back to a recent Potomac post about producing face shields. She contacted Mike Adelstein, Potomac’s President and CEO with whom she had originally worked on her Ph.D.’s technical needs, and asked about purchasing some face shields.
Speedy Response Saves the Day
Just as when Potomac got Heidi a quote faster than any other microfluidics fabrication company she found for her Ph.D. research, Potomac had delivered complementary face shields to Dr. Trujillo before she could say Ace. Fast turnaround is Potomac’s signature capability. Whether for a Ph.D. student, a vet who needs to provide care for pets who are providing stress relief in the time of Coronavirus, or a large company who is prototyping a new medical device, Potomac will quickly and economically respond to customer needs.
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