BlackHägen Design Founder and Human Factors Engineering Pioneer, Sean Hägen Passes Unexpectedly

*DUNEDIN, FL / ACCESSWIRE / March 2, 2023 / *It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that the executive team at BlackHägen Design announces the sudden passing of Robert Sean Hagen, the company's co-Principal, Founder, and Director of Research and Synthesis. Sean passed away on February 25 after a brief illness.

Sean spent 28 years building BlackHägen Design to support clients in the development of "mission-critical" products that are both safer and easier to use. He was pivotal in the advocacy of human factors and good design practices for medical devices and was at the forefront of patient safety initiatives, helping to found the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) Patient Safety Committee. During Sean's two terms on the IDSA Board of Directors as the Vice President of Special Interest Sections, he led the organization in developing professional continuing education strategies and initiatives. As a lead instructor in the IDSA contextual inquiry workshops, he enriched the education of many of his colleagues. Indeed, Sean loved mentoring young designers and engineers throughout his career and had been looking forward to doing much more of the same in subsequent years.

"Working closely with Sean throughout the years, I know our entire team is honored to continue carrying out his vision for BlackHӓgen Design. His professional focus has always been to make a measurable difference by applying innovative user-centered design, informed through robust human-factors research, that improves the user experience for clinicians with better outcomes for patients," said Philip Remedios, Sean's business partner of 21 years. "He was a brilliant yet humble leader and designer who cared deeply for his colleagues, his family, and his clients. Sean will be greatly missed, but his wisdom and legacy will certainly be carried on by those he inspired, led, and nurtured."

Jeff Morang, an executive-level human factors engineer and long term professional friend to BlackHägen, has been promoted to the position of Director of Human Factors Engineering. Jeff joined the company in September of 2022 and has over 18 years of Human Factors experience in corporate and consulting roles. Rich Newman continues his role as Usability Engineering Test Manager, overseeing and conducting formal usability testing and other Human Factors activities. Rich has 30 years in the medical device industry and has been with the firm since 2016. Under their leadership, the HFE team will continue to flourish and provide industry-leading professionalism, quality, and dependability. BlackHägen's Principal Philip Remedios oversees the entire R&D team and corporate operations.

*About BlackHägen Design*

Headquartered in Dunedin, Florida, BlackHägen Design is a multidisciplinary, user-research and product design firm supporting start-ups through Fortune 50 companies. Its pragmatic approach to product design is well-suited to safety-critical and environmentally challenging industries and has a long-standing history of serving those clients. At BlackHägen Design's core, user-centered processes drive innovation and sustainable product development. This systematic methodology for translating research insights into design requirements and creating valuable intellectual property has contributed to more than 100 patents and trade secrets over the last two decades.

BlackHägen Design continuously optimizes the quality of its methodologies and services through rigorous deployment of its Quality Management System, which is structured to be compatible with both 21CFR 820 (FDA) and ISO 13485, while easily adaptable to clients' in-house QMS for seamless documentation transfer. For more information visit: www.blackhagen.com

*Media Contact:*

Dawn Fontaine
Ripple Effect Communications
dawn@rippleeffectpr.com
617-536-8887

*SOURCE:* BlackHagen Design
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