Medical devices, including smart watches, pulse oximeters, and heart valve implants, are often designed through one-size-fits-all and stratified models that limit their usability and efficacy for a diverse range of bodies and skin tones, contributing to harmful, even fatal, health disparities. Encountering these disparities in her own family and learning how bioengineering work often exacerbates, not mitigates, health disparities, Rene Canady founded Equity Systems (ES) Biodesign Consulting. ES Biodesign Consulting is a social impact software and research consulting business that ensures medical devices meet the needs of all patients and consumers.
With one out of every three adults using wearables, at two years in business, Rene’s leadership and innovation at ES Biodesign Consulting is already having a wide reaching and positive impact on communities often overlooked in medical device design and in the broader market. Leveraging her interdisciplinary expertise in bioengineering, sociology, and STEM education, Rene combines individualized consulting with her proprietary software audit tool to guide medtech companies through community-impact, human-centered, and inclusive systems design approaches to medical device development and company culture, saving lives all while saving companies time, risk, and money.
In addition, ES Biodesign Consulting provides education to designers, STEM professionals and students, medical practitioners, service providers, organizational leaders, and policy makers, developing entire ecosystems that better serve the community. Recently recognized with the Community Impact Award at the 2025 Synergiiize Pitch Showcase and placing second at the National Society of Black Engineer’s 2025 Fall Regional Conference Pitch Showcase, Rene’s innovative work is already transforming the medtech landscape.