Team
Our principal staff members have decades of combined experience in the human factors consulting business, having built a reputation for research and design excellence, methodological innovation, and customer responsiveness.
Michael Wiklund
President
Michael has worked in the human factors field for over twenty years. During this time, he has led projects involving user research, user interface design, prototyping, usability testing, risk analysis, and design process engineering. Applications have included consumer products, personal and business software products, websites, and medical and scientific instrumentation. Although he is an experienced project and team manager, he continues to spend a large proportion of his time delivering hands-on services.
Jonathan Kendler
Design Director
Jonathan has an advantageous mix of skills, including human factors engineering, information design, graphic design, and computer programming. His design portfolio includes software user interfaces for numerous medical, business, and consumer devices, a documentation system for an automotive diagnostic tool, a web-based tutorial on medical device safety, and numerous websites.
Peter Carstensen
Senior Analyst
Peter Carstensen joined Wiklund Research & Design following a three-decade tenure with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration where he founded and led the agency’s human factors engineering team within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Peter’s multi-faceted role at WR&D includes helping medical technology developers fulfill U.S. and international regulatory requirements pertaining to human factors, prepare an appropriate design history file, and respond effectively to regulatory actions. He also contributes to interface design evaluations and human factors program planning efforts. Peter has served for years as convener of the International Electrotechnical Commission’s human factors engineering committee responsible for developing IEC 62366:2008, titled Medical Devices – Application of Usability Engineering to Medical Devices.
Allison Yale
Managing Human Factors Specialist
Allison joined Wiklund Research & Design upon after receiving her degree in human factors from Tufts University in 2005. Since joining our team, she has developed considerable hands-on experience over the course of numerous Wiklund R&D projects, including usability tests of hemodialysis machines, glucose meters, and IV infusion systems. Her applied user interface design experience ranges from surgical instruments to hospital beds to patient physiological monitors to drug labels. She is an effective interviewer, able to place usability research and test participants at ease while drawing out important insights. Today, she capably leads some of WR&D’s most challenging user research and design evaluation projects. Recently completed projects have included a long-term study of a continuous drug delivery system, a comparative assessment of drug packaging labels, and an assessment of a device that facilitates cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Jon Tilliss
Human Factors Specialist
Jon Tilliss joined our consulting team upon graduation from Tufts University where he earned his B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering, complemented by human factors studies. Jon is skilled in user interface design and prototyping, as well as web programming. His knowledge of mechanical engineering adds a valuable dimension to his human factors work at Wiklund Research & Design. Since joining our firm, Jon has helped produced highly regarded user interface designs for a diverse set of products, including an advanced microscope, dialysis machine, glucose monitor, blood chemistry analyzer, and automobile diagnostics application.
Maya Jackson
Human Factors Specialist
Maya joined Wiklund Research & Design immediately after receiving her degree in human factors from Tufts University. She contributes to user research, user interface design, and usability testing projects. Prior to joining our firm, she completed an educational internship at Fidelity Investments where she supported numerous usability tests of financial software applications. One her of many strengths is establishing a positive rapport with research participants ranging from children to adults and elders. She brings to our firm a strong interest in improving the usability of medical devices.
Simone Payment
Technical Writer
Simone Payment is an accomplished writer and editor. In addition to writing 22 books – primarily for the educational market – she has written and edited an extensive amount of website content and instructions for use. In her writing she stresses conciseness and the use of plain English and appropriate voice. She also strives to ensure consistency between online and print content.
Affiliates
Several affiliates from academia and industry stand ready to contribute domain-specific expertise, such as knowledge of complex surgical procedures and control system technologies.
Missy Cummings, PhD
Boeing Assistant Professor, Aeronautics & Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Specialties: Human factors of command and control systems.
John Gosbee, MD, MS
Human Factors Engineering and Healthcare Specialist, University of Michigan Healthcare System
Specialties: Enhancing the usability and safety of healthcare devices and systems. Development and implementation of patient safety improvement programs and techniques.
Torsten Gruchmann, Dipl. -Ing
Managing Director, Use-Lab, Germany
Specialties: Human factors in medical products and systems.
John Kreifeldt, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Tufts University
Specialties: Consumer product safety, forensic analysis.
Matthew Weinger, MD
Professor of Anesthesia, Vanderbilt University
Specialties: Patient safety, medical device efficacy and usability.
Partnerships and Collaborations
We enjoy working collaboratively with our clients' in-house researchers, engineers, programmers, and designers, as well as their consultants.
We are comfortable leading design efforts, or supporting the work of others with our special expertise.