Jacob Lomazov
Jacob Lomazov is a passionate student in the Weldon School. He’ll be graduating this spring of 2020 and aspires to influence ethical policies, regulations, and business growth in the digital health field. His approach is holistic, helping companies and patients tackle issues such as data privacy and value-based agreements which arise as the technology of medicine evolves. He cites his co-op internship experience as an inspiration for this passion, saying, “I was really fortunate to learn about digital health at Eli Lilly. The goal is to learn more about people and how they interact with medicine, and then make it work better for them.”
Industry Experience
Jacob’s four-rotation Co-op at Eli Lilly was a transformative experience, as it immersed him in several aspects of his field. “I was really fortunate that Lilly had a lot of different paths to go down,” he says. “The first rotation focused on container enclosure integrity, which has some really interesting elements. People don’t realize how much research needs to go into this. My second one was in mechanical design, designing actual devices. The third one, which I just finished this past semester, was in test methods. And that’s as engineering-focused as you can imagine. They have a problem, want to understand it, create a test method, and show what happens. We were actually creating a device, and we wanted to understand how filling it with a volume would affect the integrity of it. I essentially created a test method with Matlab. And then, my fourth rotation is in digital health!” Jacob also had an orthopedic internship between rotations, in which he integrated his goal of approaching the industry holistically.
Study Abroad
Alongside his industry experience at Eli Lilly, Jacob has had other incredible adventures through BME that have influenced his career and character. Jacob went on a BME-specific study abroad trip in Scandinavia, visiting Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. He says, “It was amazing! It was really cool to experience the different cultures.” While visiting universities at these places, Jacob learned how diseases spread and how to model aortic blood flow. He also highlights study abroad’s career benefit, saying, “I can tell you, every time I talk to an interviewer, that’s the first thing they ask. ‘Study abroad? Tell me about this.’” Jacob has many unforgettable moments from his journey to share about, such as overnight boat and train rides, an EDM concert, and museum visits. Describing one of his favorite moments, he says, “I remember I was in the arctic circle. It was 11pm and I was sitting on a pier looking at this glass-still water, and it was still bright out. It was beautiful.”
Involvement
When on campus, Jacob is involved in the Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF), giving tours and planning events to foster the growth of the next generation of engineers. He explains their mission, saying, “The really cool thing is: you get to be completely yourself, and honest, sharing what you love and why you’re here. It’s pretty hard to get into—so the people that are in it are really unique and have great perspectives from all over the world. That’s been a big catalyst for my progression in college and for my communication skills. When I think of my favorite thing in college: it’s PSEF.” Jacob is excited to plan PSEF’s 25th year celebration, bringing back alumni to the event, saying, “It’s very cool to see where all these people have gone and how successful they’ve been. That’s something that’s exciting. Out of all the 25 years—I get to be involved.”
Insights and Hobbies
Jacob also values spending time with friends and picking up exciting habits like playing guitar. In these activities, he’s grateful for each moment. This gratitude is particularly evident when he talks about his college career, saying, “If you go to somewhere like Purdue, you can solve problems. If you can communicate that, I think you’re set. Talking to people while on Co-op is how I got interested in digital health, and looking back, I see how lucky I was to get to where I am now, and have that passion.”