Interview with Marta Ferrer, Embedded Software Verification & Validation Engineer at Distalmotion

February 11th was the International Day of Women and Girls in Sciences. Biopôle celebrated this day by interviewing women members of the campus who succeeded in their scientific career.

Here is the interview with Marta Ferrer, Embedded Software Verification & Validation Engineer at Distalmotion.

 

What are you currently working on? 

I am part of the R&D engineering team at Distalmotion. We are developing a surgical robot called Dexter for minimally invasive care. More specifically, I am part of the embedded software V&V department, which is responsible for assuring the quality of the software that drives Dexter.

 

Which job challenges are you about to face in the upcoming months? 

A few months ago, Distalmotion obtained CE marking for Dexter. This was a major milestone for us! With this milestone come new opportunities and challenges, both for my team and for all my colleagues in the various specialist teams at Distalmotion. These are definitely exciting times for us, as we continue to work hand in hand with surgeons, integrating their clinical feedback in order to bring Dexter to market. In some ways, our journey with Dexter has only just started.

 

Who is your role model in science?

Of course, I look up to Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale and Katherine Johnson, on whose shoulders I stand as an equal to my peers with the opportunity to shape the next generation of surgical robots. Really, I see any and all of my teammates at Distalmotion as role models. Because we believe in what we are doing, we have created such an inspiring, motivated and ambitious environment where we solve, overcome, succeed and celebrate together.

 

What is your wish for the younger generation of girls dreaming of working in STEM? 

Go for it and pursue your dreams! And I really mean that to be a genderless statement. If you are motivated, willing to learn and put your mind to it, you will find your match: there will be a setting and company out there that will give you the opportunity to grow. Also, speaking from my own experience: don’t worry about notions of age, being too young or old, or with concepts like being unexperienced or supposedly lacking experience. Don’t let assumptions or perceptions hold you back. Put your mind to something and pursue it, of course keeping an open mind yourself.