Juan's interest in POP emerged from his interest in engineering from a young age and his interest in his mother career as a physical therapist/educator. When he first heard about POP in high school, it sounded like the perfect mixture of these two worlds. He reached out to his neighbor, who owned a POP clinic, to learn more and has been pursuing the profession ever since.

Juan studied biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. There, he continued to nurture his interest in applying the science of motion to the body and discovered a passion for research. After completing his undergraduate education, Juan went on to earn his master’s in prosthetics and orthotics from California State University – Dominguez Hills.

After spending several years in clinical practice in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area, Juan now works with the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (RECOVER) as an Advanced Research Prosthetist Orthotist. He focuses on understanding how patients move and use POP devices beyond the walls of the clinic. In doing so, he hopes to help make future devices more comfortable, accessible and adaptable to patients’ lives. He enjoys collaborating with all types of health care providers, including nurses and physical therapists and physicians, to help patients achieve their goals and to push POP knowledge forward.