Virtual Water Cooler Chat

A Chat with Correna Brinck, Head of IP at IntuiCell and Founder, TheBrinckConsultancy | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 33

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features VPG’s Junior Learning Engineer, Sydney Ricks, chatting with Dr. Coreena Brinck, Head of IP at IntuiCell, a Swedish Artificial General Intelligence start-up and founder of TheBrinckConsultancy, her Nordic/UK consultancy for strategy and CXO-level IP issues.  
Sydney is a Senior majoring in Statistics at Virginia Tech. She is also a music lover and enjoys learning about data analytics.  
Dr. Brinck is an IAM 1000 attorney. She is Head of IP at IntuiCell, a Swedish Artificial General Intelligence start-up and founder of TheBrinckConsultancy, her Nordic/UK consultancy for strategy and CXO level IP issues. In addition, she also offers patent drafting, prosecution, infringement, validity and litigation support via her role as a consultant patent attorney with Two-IP, an innovative full-service IP firm based in the UK. 
A European and UK patent attorney who has worked with innovators and inventors for over 20 years both in-house and in private practice, Dr. Brinck works with clients of all sizes in the physics, communications, med-tech, and green-tech sectors. She has seen first-hand how rapidly AI and ML innovations are pervading human society and strongly advocates ethical AI. She has previously supported clients using AI in fields as diverse as electrical grid energy distribution, battery management, digital twin IIoT for smart factories and engineering systems, autonomous vehicle and vessel systems, and health management and screening. 
The next generation artificial general intelligence she currently works with at IntuiCell takes a new direction for AI and empowers machines with the ability to think and act more like humans.  
Coreena loves gardening, walking her two dogs, playing the piano, painting, and collecting art. She is currently in the midst of transforming her 1930s Tudor-style home into an energy efficient home of the future. 
Connect with Coreena on LinkedIn.  
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

Fiercely Joyful with Natasha Craig Durkins | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 32

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Natasha “Tash” Craig Durkins. Tash is a senior executive in the federal government and has served in several key leadership positions throughout her civil service career. She is also the celebrated author of a recently published book, Fiercely Joyful: 11 Keys to Living Authentically & Creating a Life You Love.  
In her recent roles, Tash has focused on reconciling the challenging budget landscape, creating strategic approaches to resolving complex problems, and driving cultural transformation across organizations.   
Stemming from her passion for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA), Tash created a bimonthly communication platform to encourage the growth of employees and support organizational health by providing a safe space to expand thoughts, self-awareness, and celebrate diversity.   
Tash attended Howard University and later earned a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from George Mason University. A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, she is a foodie who loves to indulge in the many culinary delights across the Washington, D.C. metro area, where she resides with her husband and two dogs, Boomer and Kobe.    
Learn more about Fiercely Joyful or connect with Tash on LinkedIn. 
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

A Chat with Mishele Kieffer, IP Counsel at Medtronic | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 31

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Mishele Kieffer, IP Counsel at Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology. Mishele specializes in patent conflict resolution, working on projects like freedom to operate analyses, due diligence issues, and patent litigation.  
Before joining Medtronic, Mishele was in private practice, specializing in patent and general litigation, and served as law clerk to the Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Prior to law school, Mishele worked as a process engineer for an industrial gas company. She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.  
Mishele has three children, two cats, and one spouse, and lives outside of Denver, Colorado. 
Connect with Mishele on LinkedIn. 
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

WELL with Deepa Tharmaraj, Head of Legal at ECARX | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 30

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features VPG’s Generation Innovation summer Litigation Assistant Kiana Soleiman interviewing Deepa Tharmaraj, Head of Legal at ECARX. Deepa has 25+ years of commercial and corporate law experience in tech, in various capacities and countries, in FTSE 100, Fortune 500, and now a Nasdaq-listed company. Her career has largely been driven by combining purpose, passion, and principles, which has led her to lead a global workplace movement focused on cultural inclusion with 10K+ members in the Fortune 500 company.   
Deepa is a passionate leader and a DEIA enthusiast. She also founded a women's empowerment not-for-profit called WELL, which facilitates faith-based conversation and connection on leadership for women everywhere.  
Connect with Deepa on LinkedIn.  
  
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

Let’s Talk Art with Flor Da Valle, Curator, Photographer and Fashion Designer | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 29

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Flor Da Valle. Flor is a contemporary art curator, professional photographer, artist & fashion designer from Buenos Aires. She has been an entrepreneur for more than ten years in the Arts and Fashion Industry and hosts Online Art Experiences for team-building events for companies around the world like Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, among others. She has exhibited her work and curated exhibitions in galleries in Buenos Aires and has a Master's Degree in Curating Contemporary Art.     
In 2021 she won the "Usina del Arte" photography Award and “Vivamos Cultura” from the Ministry of Culture of Buenos Aires. She has also won art grants from the Ministry of Culture. In 2022 she exhibited “Art Is the Mirror That Reveals Our Own Face”, her Master Thesis in Contemporary Art Curating, in which she also participated as an artist with her post-photography series “Art as a Mirror”. She was also part of the collective exhibition "From Cameras & Stories" at "Usina del Arte". In 2018 her work was selected for the collective show "Eternity" by Maurizio Cattelan in Art Basel Cities BA.   
Connect with Flor on LinkedIn.  
Errata: Flor completed her Master's degree in Curating Contemporary Art in 2022. The voice-over inadvertently indicated she was finishing the degree.
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

A Chat with Grace Wang, Attorney at Allen & Overy LLP | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 28

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Grace Wang, an attorney at Allen & Overy LLP’s New York office. Grace relies on her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT and patent prosecution background to advise her clients in inter partes review proceedings and requests for ex parte reexaminations. Her practice also focuses on litigation in the International Trade Commission and district court, as well as patent validity, infringement, freedom to operate, and due diligence analyses. 
Grace has experience with a wide range of technologies, including medical devices, signal processing, data analytics, integrated circuits, semiconductor devices, disease diagnostics, network biology, genetic risk assessment, communications systems and networks, and cloud computing. Grace's doctoral research focused on the neural coding of complex auditory signals. 
Connect with Grace on LinkedIn. 
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

A Chat with Judy He, Patent Attorney at Crowell & Moring LLP | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 27

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Judy He, a patent attorney at Crowell & Moring LLP. Judy has a significant amount of experience with litigating and resolving complex patent, trade secret, and commercial licensing disputes. She is on the board of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC) and teaches legal writing as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Judy loves living in Chicago and is very passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and mentorship. 
Judy has experience with advising and representing clients in mediations, arbitrations, and federal proceedings before various district courts; she also has an active pro bono practice and has successfully represented immigrant children with obtaining predicate orders for special immigrant juvenile status in Illinois state courts and immigrant families with obtaining asylum in Chicago Immigration Court. In 2021, Judy was a recipient of the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Rising Star Award. She has also been recognized twice by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service as a Pro Bono Leader for her contributions in 2020 and 2021 to the ABA’s Free Legal Answers project. Judy is an alum of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Pathfinders program and one of the 2022 Pathfinders Class Liaisons. 
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Judy was an extern with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, the largest legal program in the Department of Homeland Security. She was also a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.  
Connect with Judy on LinkedIn and learn more about Judy at Crowell & Moring LLP. 
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

A Chat with Dahlia George, Staff Attorney at the Office of Enrollment and Discipline at the USPTO | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 26

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinions and stories that have been contributed to this podcast episode are those of Dahlia George and Virtual Patent Gateway. They do not belong to and cannot be credited to anyone at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED). 
This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Dahlia George, Staff Attorney at the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).   
Dahlia's primary responsibilities involve investigating attorney and patent agent misconduct; spearheading the USPTO Diversion Program as an alternative to discipline; examining trademark applications for registration; representing USPTO in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) administrative hearings and Merit Systems Protection Board appeals. Dahlia also has experience as a USPTO Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer and served as a United States Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG).  
In her spare time, Dahlia enjoys hiking, reading, yoga, and watching movie classics.   
Connect with Dahlia on LinkedIn.  
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

Advancing Healthy Equality with Naseema Shafi | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 25

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Naseema Shafi (She/Her), CEO of Whitman-Walker Health on the topic of Advancing Health Equality. 
Naseema lives in the DMV area and initially joined Whitman-Walker in 2007. In her role as CEO, Naseema works to implement the strategic vision, goals and initiatives of the Board of Directors. She leads the support of the growth and oversight of the health center with a focus on the provision of high-quality, affirming care that centers the community and maintains the vitality of Whitman Walker. Prior to her current role, Naseema served as both the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for Whitman-Walker as well as its Director of Compliance, overseeing various matters related to corporate compliance and risk management.   
Naseema received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar. In 2016, Naseema was named a Minority Business Leader by The Washington Business Journal; she is inspired by the powers of community, citizenship, and empathy.   
Connect with Naseema on LinkedIn.  
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here. 

A Chat with Li Guo, Counsel at Bunsow De Mory LLP | Virtual Water Cooler Chat Episode 24

This episode of Virtual Water Cooler Chat features Li Guo, Counsel at Bunsow De Mory LLP, and is interviewed by our special guest and mentor, Sheena Yap Chan, Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author of The Tao of Self-Confidence and Asian Women Who Boss Up, and podcast host of The Tao of Self-Confidence. 
As Counsel at Bunsow De Mory LLP, Li’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright cases. Li also has a Ph.D in Chemistry and material science. Before becoming a lawyer, she worked as an engineer. She frequently speaks and writes about intellectual property issues and has been actively involved in a number of legal organizations and their committees.  
Connect with Li on LinkedIn. 
 
Virtual Patent Gateway (VPG) reduces overhead costs by providing PTAB attorneys with on-demand and affordable paralegal support services. Virtual Patent Gateway Founder Ashley Cheung has a passion for supporting the next generation in the workplace and is committed to developing a growth mindset within VPG.   
Learn more about VPG here.