Alannah R. Witham
ABOUT ALANNAH
Assistant
Donna Raaymakers
Alannah joined Price Heneveld as a Patent Engineer with experience in the mechanical, chemical, and electrical industries, including home appliance, aeronautical, medical device, automotive, and packaging technologies. While working to earn her degree in Biochemistry at Western Michigan University, she began her career as a scientist at Zoetis (formerly Pfizer Animal Health). Alannah began as an intern investigating the lyophilization cycle for vaccines for pets and livestock. For the next two years following her internship, she isolated and purified monoclonal antibodies in support of the production of biopharma therapeutics. Alannah then pursued graduate courses in engineering and broadened her scope of technical expertise as a patent engineer at McGarry Bair in Grand Rapids. There, she worked with inventors and outside counsel while drafting utility patent applications, preparing responses to design and utility USPTO Office Actions, and conducting prior art searches and analysis in support of patentability, landscape, freedom-to-operate, and clearance opinions. Alannah also worked with foreign patent counsel to prepare and prosecute foreign patent applications.
Alannah is a member of the Grand Rapids IP Women’s Forum (GRIP), and recently expanded her career as a patent practitioner by becoming a registered USPTO Patent Agent in 2019.
EDUCATION
Western Michigan University, B.S., Biochemistry, 2013
PRACTICE AREAS
Patents
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & INTERESTS
Cooking, healthy living, gardening, and reading