Alumni profile – Dr Devjoy Dev

21 August 2026

After graduating from Queen Mary with a degree in Biomedical Engineering, Devjoy has built an international career spanning research, medical technology, and space health. His journey has taken him from Queen Mary to Imperial College London, New York University, and Medtronic, where he now works in cardiac medical technology in the United States. Alongside his professional career, he is a space medicine researcher, a TSI astronaut candidate for 2030, and a former stage magician who performed across the UK and internationally with his identical twin brother.

In this blog, he reflects on how Queen Mary helped launch his career, his journey towards becoming an astronaut candidate for 2030, his fascination with space health, and what a decade of performing magic taught him.

 

Why did you choose to study Biomedical Engineering at Queen Mary?

I knew from an early age that I wanted to work in healthcare, but not necessarily as a doctor. My father was a doctor, and my mother was a dancer, so I grew up influenced by both science and creativity.

I found that there was something called biomedical engineering that was a merger between engineering and medicine, where you can create devices or innovations within the healthcare field.

The way I saw it in biomedical engineering is that anything you see developed in the hospital is because of a biomedical engineer; otherwise, healthcare would be the same as 50 years ago. I was inspired to get into the field because of the potential for your innovations to go far beyond your life, not just for each patient.

Queen Mary stood out because it has one of the longest-established biomedical engineering programmes in the UK. I moved from Manchester to London, and I was also looking forward to being on a campus and in a diverse place that was hustling and bustling.

What are some of your fondest memories from Queen Mary?

Like many students as a Fresher, some of my favourite memories were simply figuring out life alongside people who were going through the same experiences. It was just so fun to take classes with them, party with them, and explore London together. I could eat, study, and live in one of the best cities in the world.

Being part of societies was a new experience for me. I was very active in Engineers Without Borders, which gave me the opportunity to explore how engineering can address social and global challenges.

One experience that stands out was speaking at the TEDx talks at Queen Mary. I was just 19 years old and really didn't expect to be selected. Each year, TEDx has a different theme, and that year's was ‘community’. My talk explored what I had learned from travelling to 20 countries at the age of 20 and how communities can be strengthened through design, volunteering, and shared experiences. It was an amazing experience and really grew my love of public speaking.

Looking back, how did your time at Queen Mary help shape your career?

Everything started at Queen Mary. My first internships, work experience opportunities, and jobs all grew out of opportunities I found during my degree.

Students always ask, how do I get work experience without any work experience? How do I get that first internship? I believe you start by volunteering, joining societies, taking on higher-level positions, and showcasing initiative. And then you take the next step and get the internship, and then a first graduate job. That all came from Queen Mary.

One opportunity that had a huge impact on me came through the Careers Service. I attended a talk about international internships in the later stages of my BEng, which eventually helped set me on a path to the United States. I’m now based in the US, where my career is.

Everything started at Queen Mary. My first internships, work experience opportunities, and jobs all grew out of opportunities I found during my degree.

After your time at Queen Mary, you returned to work as an Innovation Engineer at the William Harvey Research Institute. What was that experience like?

It was fun to come back to Queen Mary after my Master’s at Imperial. I was looking for an industrial job, and it was interesting because they were just starting this institute.

I worked at the Cardiovascular Devices Hub (CVDHub), which was part of Queen Mary and served as a technology transfer company. The CVDHub worked with universities across London, bringing together engineers, doctors, and entrepreneurs to help develop cardiac devices. Whether someone needed more clinical or engineering expertise, we would connect them with the right people.

It was a really cool way to see Queen Mary from a different angle, not just as a student, but by working with different parties and stakeholders.

Your work spans biomedical engineering, medical devices and space health. What excites you most about this field?

I’ve always been interested in biomedical engineering and medical devices. My interest and passion in space health started just after I graduated from Queen Mary. It is exciting to see it grow every year, and more people getting into it.

We have all these big tech companies and space corporations like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Axiom Space, and Blue Origin who are making goals to go to the Moon and Mars. But then you realise, okay, wait, how do we actually get there and stay safe?

How can we live in space and also thrive? That's where space medicine comes in. It’s really the only field within the space sector that brings humans into the picture, and that really fascinates me.

Space is an extreme environment we’re not evolved to be in. Space medicine looks at how technology can help us learn more about the risks and figure out ways to stay healthy up there.

I think the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is going to be much more commercialised very soon, so more private corporations are coming in and people are wanting to work out how space can be really beneficial to us here on Earth. It’s not just helping millionaires have a good trip to space, but allowing us to learn so much about medical devices and drug development that can help us here on Earth.

What developments are you most excited about in biomedical engineering over the next decade?

There are so many developments to be excited about. Part of the reason I’ve been moving around in different areas of biomedical engineering for most of my career is that it’s so diverse. There’s everything from prosthetics to bioinformatics to biomedical imaging to space medicine and tissue engineering.

During my PhD, I worked in neural engineering, where ethics and policy have traditionally been a major hurdle. But neuroethics has become more flexible in recent years, allowing us to develop more devices that stimulate and interact with the brain, which is super cool.

We’re now seeing more smart wearable neurotechnology, from headbands to shoes designed to stimulate the brain. As we’ve found safer ways to interact with the brain, the ethical boundaries around these technologies are changing.

There are also exciting developments like organ chips, which model our physiological systems and could reduce the need for animal studies.

You're also a Titans Space Industries (TSI) astronaut candidate for 2030. How did that opportunity come about?

I’ve always yearned for the opportunity to go to space, so I signed up to go towards the end of my PhD, and TSI approached me. They are a private organisation working to break the mould on where astronauts come from by diversifying the candidate panel.

TSI was interested in my research in space medicine, and also because of my identical twin. Very much like the NASA Twin Study, having genetically identical twins, with one person on Earth and one in space for about a year, provides a great way to see how space affects the human body. This was something TSI was very interested in, so we came up with some projects, and they recruited me as an astronaut candidate for 2030.

There’s currently a lot of onboarding and online training and next year we'll be set to begin the in-person training. I’m very excited for that, but also aware that a lot of these space missions do get delayed.

I’ve always yearned for the opportunity to go to space, so I signed up towards the end of my PhD, and TSI approached me. They recruited me as an astronaut candidate for 2030.

Before becoming an engineer and researcher, you spent more than a decade performing as a stage magician. How did that begin?

My grandfather was a pilot who later became a Magician as a hobby. When he discovered he had identical twin grandkids, he saw an opportunity and started teaching my brother and me magic when we were very young.

Over the next decade, we performed across the UK and India, gradually developing our own routines and stage shows.

Looking back, the biggest thing it gave me wasn't the magic itself but confidence on stage, the stage presence. My interest in stage presence grew, and I now love public speaking, presenting my research, and just talking about general topics that help people.

Looking back, the biggest thing it gave me wasn't the magic itself but confidence on stage.

What advice would you give to current students?

I’d say, especially as a Fresher, try everything and anything, but also think about what’s ahead as you approach your last year. Try to keep in contact with your professors, especially your third-year tutor and project advisor, because those relationships can be really valuable when you need references later on.

I’d also advise setting aside time for career-related things, especially from second year onwards. Allocate regular time to think about internships, applications, and the areas that genuinely interest you. I used to keep Saturdays for career stuff, and while I don’t think you have to do this in your first year, setting aside time from second year onwards is quite important so you don’t feel crazy anxious in your final year as you near the end of your degree.

What's next for you?

I'm currently focused on building my experience at Medtronic. Over the last five years or so, I’ve been doing preclinical and benchtop research in academia. In that time, I’ve seen medical devices at every stage, from concept to product development to spin-out company.

Now I’m in industry, so my goal is to establish myself in industry while doing research on the side and building more clinical experience.

I’m in the operating theatre with the doctor for long hours, so it’s a different setup than the lab. I bring much of my electrophysiology background into this role, but for the cardiac system.  One of the devices I work on maps the heart to help surgeons identify where to treat scarred tissue that can cause serious arrhythmias. The technology allows the surgeon to determine where to ablate in order to restore a normal heart rhythm.

I’m excited to be working closely with clinicians and seeing firsthand how medical technologies impact patients. At the same time, I remain deeply involved in space medicine research and hope to continue contributing to the field as it grows. Long-term, I plan to apply this clinical and medical device expertise to a space corporation or NASA.