David Narrow

David Narrow became a biomedical engineer because he wanted to put his creativity and technical skills toward making a difference in people’s lives. Studying abroad in Sydney forced him to meet new people, made him more perceptive, and taught him empathy – all essential management skills he applies every day as CEO of Sonavex and MonoMano Cycling. After graduating from University of Rochester, earning his Masters from Johns Hopkins University, and honing his business skills as a healthcare consultant, he launched not one but two medical device companies that are on their way to improving millions of lives. Looking back on his time in Sydney, David admits that engineers aren’t always naturally-inclined to put themselves out there and connect with other people. That’s why he feels studying abroad is so important for STEM students who might have technical prowess but need to develop their interpersonal skills in order to connect to collaborators to help realize and maximize the impact of their work.

IES Abroad: As a student majoring in biomedical engineering, why did you choose to study abroad and why Sydney?

DN: One of the things I really want to commend IES Abroad for is making study abroad a possibility for me – something that was not feasible via many other programs. Older students had described how great and rewarding their experiences were, but as a biomedical engineering student, it was more challenging for me to satisfy my academic requirements for my major to stay on track. By pursuing the opportunity of study abroad earlier – I participated sophomore year with a couple of friends – we were able to get internal approvals at the University of Rochester, and IES Abroad was incredibly helpful in ensuring that we could meet the course requirements in Australia. Sydney was always particularly attractive to me because I’m a surfer, and I had always dreamt of surfing in Sydney. So, that was a big draw, and IES Abroad made this dream reality. This is something I am really grateful for and was unique to IES Abroad. The three friends that I went with were the only other engineering students in the entire cohort.

IES Abroad: What are some of the most influential memories from your time in Sydney?

DN: It really helped give a very worldly perspective on not only cultural perspectives but things like politics and career. For people who, at first glance, seemed to be just like any of my friends back home – who spoke the same language, enjoyed the same extracurricular activities (surfing) – there were a lot of subtle differences. Becoming close with a few of my Australian friends really changed my outlook on the world and made me more perceptive. I was really impressed with the outgoing culture and how welcoming everyone was that I met in such a short period of time and how lasting those friendships were. That is one of the things I look back on, just how quickly I was able to establish incredible friendships with Australians. We started playing touch “footie,” which is the slang for rugby, and it was me and my two friends from Rochester and everyone else was Australian. One of my Australian friends, who I am still in great touch with, said, “Listen, you guys are big. You should come play in my real rugby league.” I had never played real rugby before. We were welcomed in immediately, even though we were definitely slowing the game down. I was surprised at how willingly these folks accepted us. It was in a matter of weeks I could integrate into the local culture and not feel like I was an outsider or seen as just another American coming to Australia to party.

IES Abroad: You speak Spanish, and you also did a fellowship in Berlin. How has your foreign language and international education background informed your work as an engineer, consultant, and now as a CEO? 

DN: These international experiences have helped enormously, especially now in my current role where I have had to manage and recruit people. Everyone that we have brought in has been someone we’ve had to bring in on a visa. Understanding both what it feels like to be in a country that’s not home – for empathy and for making sure the transition is smooth is incredibly important – but also my curiosity for learning about other people’s backgrounds really stems from my travel. That has made what would have been a pretty tough transition for a lot of these folks, I think, much easier and much more enjoyable on a personal level, and it deepens the relationships, which helps the work itself.

IES Abroad: How did you get involved with Sonavex?

DN: Sort of serendipitously, to be honest. I met a surgeon while I was in graduate school for biomedical engineering. Together, we came up with a device concept to meet one of the major needs that he would experience on a regular basis in his field of surgery. While we were at Johns Hopkins, we came up with an early prototype, which was by no means sufficient for getting the data we ultimately needed, but enough to show that this could work. A long story short, we had to keep the project going as a virtual company where we would get a little bit of grant money here and there and hire post-docs as needed to do some algorithm development before we really knew this was going to be a viable technology and company. Then, ultimately, we got to a point of technical de-risking, while I was in Boston doing consulting work. It was time to pursue this opportunity properly. The surgeon wasn’t excited about the prospect of quitting his job, so I stepped up to do it. I took a leap of faith and went several months without any pay, which admittedly was a bit stressful. Ultimately, we got to a point where we had more financial stability and were able to run the company properly.

IES Abroad: What was your path to becoming CEO, particularly at such a young age?

DN: We originally thought, “Yeah, I’m only 25. No one is going to trust me as a CEO,” because medical device companies typically require several millions of dollars to get off the ground. Objectively, I would see that a lot of investors would want to trust somebody who has done this a handful of times and probably has gray hair/no hair and has been around the block. Then, we realized nobody was knocking at our door to run our company, so by default, I stepped up. Fortunately, after successes like Facebook, investors are warming up to the idea of putting their faith into young entrepreneurs – so, it didn’t end up being as big of a barrier as I thought. It’s pretty astonishing to think back to just a year and a half ago to when I left my job in consulting. There was no office space, no money in the company. It was a half-baked prototype that we weren’t really sure was going to work, and we have been able to put the pieces together so far. There is still a long ways to go. Medical technologies typically have a long development cycle, regulatory cycle, and then ultimately, adoption cycle. There is a lot of work that still needs to be done, but we have put in the pieces to establish that base and the infrastructure so that we will succeed.

IES Abroad: In addition to leading Sonavex, you also co-founded and are the CEO of MonoMano Cycling. Tell us about your work on this project and your vision for the company?

DN: My first exposure to entrepreneurship was through a project at University of Rochester as an undergrad with some other engineering students. We worked on this project with the goal of enabling stroke survivors to return to the sport of cycling. The project was not particularly high-tech, but we realized that the impact was much more enormous than we would have ever assumed on the surface. Beyond just getting you exercise and improving the quality of life for patients, we found that rehab specialists saw this as a tool for significantly improving patients’ time to recovery after a stroke. Then, we saw its applicability for amputees and people with traumatic brain injury or multiple sclerosis. We saw that there was so much potential and wanted to ensure that people who wanted to get their hands on a trike could. We were originally thinking about putting a recipe of how to design and manufacture one online but then realized that most customers who would want the trike wouldn’t have the ability or the resources to do the handy work themselves. So, we said, “Alright, we’re going to get a little bit of money and build some initial product and see if it starts selling.”

Back when I had a little more bandwidth, I was doing online sales and marketing, and that was very effective in finding customers. Now, people find us. If they are interested in the trike, we ship it off to them and ensure there is somebody nearby who can assemble it for them. This is more of an altruistic venture. The reason I do it is not because I see large financial returns but rather the impact that most of our riders see and communicate in their incredible testimonials. Eventually, I want to build it into a greater operation and expand its reach to more people who could benefit. It has not yet received the same amount of support and resources as Sonavex; hopefully, that will change in the coming years.

IES Abroad: What has been one of your most satisfying accomplishments to date?

DN: I think my work with MonoMano Cycling was really the most satisfying. The reason why I went into biomedical engineering, and why I think a lot of people go into the field, is because the goal is to use your quantitative skills and creativity to improve the quality of life for people. It’s not so frequent that you see the impact of your work directly. Yeah, it was awesome to make a product. Yeah, it was awesome to have a first customer and test it out and see if people really liked it. But when you get those emails… I had this one guy send me an email. He is a veteran. He had his arm amputated, and he sent me this picture of him riding his trike in Florida after a 22-mile ride. He sent me a picture after his ride and he looked happy as can be. Those moments are really satisfying. I can’t even tell you the last time I’ve ridden a bike for 22 miles, let alone someone who has had to overcome such physical adversities. Those are really the accomplishments that I think are most impactful. What I look forward to is making a similar type of impact with Sonavex, but due to the nature of FDA-regulated technologies, we still have a little bit of time ahead before we will be able to realize that goal.

IES Abroad: Why is it particularly important for engineering students to study abroad?

DN: Engineers typically have the somewhat true stereotype of not being the most outgoing, social, and extroverted type. One of the things that I’ve realized is that you can be the best technical performer in the world, but you are severely limited by your ability to make a big impact if you are not able to connect with the right people. One of the things that study abroad forces you to do is to really get out of your shell and out of your comfort zone. It is good boot camp training for your career, but it is done in a more fun and less demanding and stressful manner. You end up building some of those skills that you may not pay much attention to on your own. Study abroad ensures that not only are you continuing your technical education, but you are really meeting new people and forcing yourself to really get out there and tell people what you do, what you’re good at, what you like to do, and potentially meet some people who you will ultimately work with. That just sets a good precedent for how, in my opinion, you end up having the most success in your career. You can be the best technical talent but if nobody knows about you, that match may not be made. The fact that study abroad sets that precedent is really helpful, especially for science and technical, engineering-focused individuals.