Scanadu

The product problem

Medical-grade diagnostics required a lab. Scanadu's bet was that a paddle of chemical reagent pads, a smartphone camera, and rigorous color science could bring FDA-cleared urinalysis into the home.

What I built

I led end-to-end software development for Scanadu Urine, working with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers:

• Mobile apps (iOS and Android) that guided consumers through the test and analyzed results with colorimetry and machine learning. The hard problem was color constancy: reading chemically meaningful color under uncontrolled lighting, on whatever camera the user owned.
• IEC 62304 compliance. Requirements definition, architecture documentation, and traceability for medical device software seeking FDA clearance.
• A Laboratory Inventory Management system that automated data collection across lab instruments. Fewer transcription errors, faster iteration for the science team.
• Platform APIs for account management and data sync (HL7 interoperability), plus a reusable Swift component shared across products.

Trade-offs & constraints

Consumer software norms and medical device norms pull in opposite directions. Iteration speed vs. traceability. Polished UX vs. validated workflows. Shipping under IEC 62304, where every requirement maps to design, implementation, and test, permanently raised my bar for what "done" means.