Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2018
  • B.S., Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, 2011
Professional Honors
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, University of Pennsylvania, 2013 - 2016
  • National Institutes of Health Rheumatology T32 Training Grant, University of Pennsylvania, 2016 - 2018
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers Student Leadership Committee, 2013-2015
  • FDA Research Experiences for Undergraduates Fellowship, University of Maryland, 2010
Professional Affiliations
  • Orthopaedic Research Society
  • Orthopaedic Research Society Tendon Section Member

Dr. Riggin's expertise is in the evaluation of medical device performance and safety in the context of human body interactions, specifically as it relates to mechanical performance and MRI compatibility. She supports medical device companies with the development and/or execution of test methods tailored to their unique product to support R&D, regulatory submission, quality assessment, or other activities along the total product lifecycle. This helps clients inform design decisions, evaluate performance, and ultimately improve product safety.

With a background in tissue biomechanics, she has expertise in animal and cadaveric tissue testing to evaluate the mechanical performance of implanted medical devices or tissue-based therapies (such as the biomechanical response of an implanted medical device in a human spine). She also has extensive experience conducting MRI compatibility testing using both computational and experimental techniques. Dr. Riggin is also passionate about the advancement of women's health products and has experience in evaluating the performance of women's consumer medical devices (such as tampons and pads). 

Dr. Riggin obtained her Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied soft tissue biomechanics, with a focus on assessing the healing or degeneration of tendons and ligaments. She has expertise in ultrasound image processing, specifically color Doppler ultrasound, photoacoustic imaging, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound. She is proficient in histological and immunohistochemical methods, and has experience with biomaterial scaffold fabrication and in vitro cell culture techniques.