Management Team
Jeff Berkley, PhD - Founder, Chairman and CEO
Jeff is well known as a leader in the fields of surgery simulation and real-time finite element modeling. He has published numerous articles and has been invited to show his computer demos and speak at a wide variety of conferences. He has published and served as a reviewer for various journals such as IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Modeling, Virtual Reality, and the Electronic Journal of Haptics Research and Medical Imaging. Jeff helped found Mimic Technologies with the goal of providing the haptic technologies necessary for widespread acceptance of surgery simulation.
Jeff brings extensive experience in mathematics, engineering and healthcare with a focus on virtual reality applications. Jeff has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, San Diego, where he majored in Biomedical Engineering and received minors in Chemistry and Psychology; a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University; and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington's HIT Laboratory, one of the world's premier virtual reality labs. Jeff also served in the Naval Reserves for eight years as a medical corpsman where he received experience in field medicine and nursing.
Rob Blanding, PhD – Director of Software Development
Rob joined MIMIC in October of 2007. He brings over twelve years of experience in computational geometry, computer graphics, and human-computer interaction, as well as over twenty years of software development experience.
He is well known as a leader in the fields of haptics, surgery simulation, and real-time finite element modeling. He has published numerous articles and has spoken at a wide variety of academic conferences. He has published and served as a reviewer for various journals such as IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Modeling, Virtual Reality, and the Electronic Journal of Haptics Research and Medical Imaging.
Seahak Kim, PhD - Director of Hardware Development
Seahak obtained his PhD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology under Professor Makoto Sato, a world-renowned expert in the field of haptics. Seahak has become a recognized expert on haptic devices and has published numerous articles and been quoted on several nationwide Japanese broadcasts, such as the NHK, TV Tokyo and Nihon Keizai Shinbun. He has been invited to participate as an author and exhibitor in international conferences held in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, France, and United States. He is also a member of Virtual Reality Society of Japan (VRSJ), and was responsible for writing the VRSJ newsletter for a time.
Seahak received his Bachelor of Science degree for Engineering in Control and Instrumentation Engineering from Chosun University of Korea; a Master’s degree at Aichi Institute of Technology at Toyota in Japan where his focus was optimal design for linkage based haptic devices; and a PhD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Jan Ostman, MSc, MBA – Director of Marketing & Business Development
Jan brings diverse experience in sales, marketing, and business development from the simulation, consulting, and automotive industry. He first joined Mimic in 2005, spearheading strategy for the firm’s robotic surgery simulation business.
Prior to joining Mimic, Jan was sales manager for haptics technology company Reachin Technologies, where he successfully grew its business in North America and Japan. Jan has held sales, business development, and engineering positions with a number of simulation and virtual reality firms and was an analyst and consultant with the Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies. He started his career as a management trainee and safety engineer at SAAB Automobile.
Jan holds a MSc in Industrial Design Engineering from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden and an MBA with Honors from the University of Washington.