Indiana Township couple hold 6 patents for CT scan and MRI equipment
For Chelsea Marsh and Bill Barone, togetherness is more than being married. They savor their bike rides with their children, Nick, 4, and Henry, 2, on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail as well as their extended family get-togethers at Vincent’s of Green Tree for pizza night.
But the bulk of their weekdays — a large part of their lives — is devoted to working together as scientists at Bayer, the German multinational biotech and pharmaceutical company.
The Fox Chapel couple are among 1,400 Pittsburgh area Bayer employees and they work serving Bayer’s radiology division in Indiana Township.
They earned his-and-hers Ph.D.s in bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Marsh, 37, earned her degree with a concentration in orthopedic biomechanics.
“I was watching the Steelers every week and you would hear about a player who tore an ACL and I thought, ‘What happens now?’ ” she said.
Spurred by her interest in orthopedics, Marsh followed that path and became interested in medical devices.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently granted a patent for the couple’s design of injectors for CT and MRI scanning equipment that provide more efficient CT scans.
Six patents and counting
The injectors deliver a contrast media intravenously in patients undergoing CT and MRI scans that’s used to more clearly diagnose heart disease and detect cancer. Other applications include monitoring the effectiveness of cancer treatments andother interventions.
“The new injectors allow technologists to focus more on the patient and less on the injector setup,” said Marsh, head of hardware engineering at Bayer.
“The population is aging and there’s more of a need for these diagnostic images.”
Barone, 36, Bayer’s principal engineer of medical device research, added, “Our goal is to get the best image possible for your cancer diagnosis and cardiac treatments
with CT and MRI scans.”
There are always cancer treatments and new ways to scan, he said. “If you’re having that biopsy or blockage, we can help detect those details earlier, say, before a tumor metastasizes. That’s really our goal.”
This is the couple’s sixth patent granted.
“A lot of people don’t know we are married, first because of the different last names. And people think there is no waya couple would work like wedo,” Marsh said.
Bayer has several partner couples at Bayer’s Pittsburgh radiology division in Indiana Township, said Jay Bleehash, talent lead for radiology at the site.
Romantic relationships in academia are not uncommon; about 40% of female and 34% of male scholars are in romantic partnerships with fellow academics, according to a 2008 study by Stanford University researchers.
‘Intellectual horsepower’
“Bill and Chelsea have intellectual horsepower offtheas well as a terrific business acumen,” Bleehash said.
Their interest in improving diagnosis and treatment with radiology matches the company’s culture and purpose-drivenmission, he said.
At first, Bayer spokeswoman Jennifer May didn’t know that Marsh and Barone were a couple.
“They share this common interest and passion for their work that is similar to academia, which played into their relationship and coming to Bayer,” she said.
Yes, Marsh and Barone sit across from each other at the office.
They met at the University of Pittsburgh on the first day of orientation.
Marsh thought Barone was cute and asked him about where to drop off a form. “It was an easy request,” he said.
They had a few classes together and dated for five years beforemarrying in 2015.
Given their highly marketable degrees in the job market, the couple could have ended up anywhere.
But they are traditional Pittsburghers. Marsh grew up in Mt. Lebanon, and while Barone is technically from Hempfield Township, it’s close enough.
Local roots
The couple, like other native Pittsburghers, chose to stay because of family.
“We grew up with grandparents and want our children to do the same,” said Marsh.
Given the size of their family, they have never paid for a babysitter, she noted.
Marsh, who finished graduate school a year before her husband, was the first to go to Bayer.
“I knew I wanted to go into industry — it’s a faster way to impactpeople,” she said.
When Barone was in graduate school, some of his research work involved CT and MRI scanning machinery. “The machines were great tools for research,” he said. “Just being able to work on those tools and at a Pittsburgh-based company got me digging deeper into how the tools are used impacting future research.”
Marsh remembers undergoing tests for postpartum issues that required a CT scan at UPMC MageeWomens Hospital.
“I told the nurse, ‘I’m the chief engineer of this device. OK, put me through!’ ” she said.
The couple are all business when focusing on their scientific research.
“You don’t always agree at work, we have different opinions,” Barone said.
Marsh quickly added that because of their familiarity, they work well together.
“Marriage is a partnership, but we are also partners in work,” she said.
Besides their apparent productivity on the job, the couple says it’s important to turn off work and focus on their kids.
“Coming home to them playing and when they wake up and smile and say ‘Hi,’ there isn’t anything better than that,” Barone said.
But there have been moments when their work and kids mingle.
“Nick was at day care and they asked him what he wants to do when he grows up,” Barone, “He said he wanted to be an engineer like mommy and dad.”