Parikha Mehta is a Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), advising on technology transfer and cross-government collaboration.
In her career at the USPTO, Ms. Mehta has served as an Intellectual Property Advisor detailee to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Review Specialist in the Office of Patent Quality Assurance, and a Patent Examiner in the medical diagnostics area. In her permanent position, she is a Senior Advisor in the Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA), where she advises internal and external stakeholders on all aspects of patent legal policy, with particular expertise in design patents, prioritized examination, restriction practice, and Paperwork Reduction Act matters. She served as the OPLA lead in launching the First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program under the Council for Inclusive Innovation. Ms. Mehta was also named as a Sustainability, Energy, and Environmental Ambassador by the Department of Commerce for her work at NOAA. Prior to joining the USPTO, she worked as a field engineer in pre-market clinical research in the medical device industry.
Ms. Mehta has a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering and a Master of Science in electrical engineering, both from Boston University.