The Story of How Popsy Began

Some of the biggest opportunities for change are hidden in the routines we stop questioning.

For Veronica Pellegrino, a registered orthopedic nurse, one of those routines was opening medication packaging. During a typical shift, nurses can find themselves opening hundreds of individually sealed pills, repeating the same motions again and again while balancing the demands of patient care. It was an ordinary part of the job, but one that came with an extraordinary amount of friction.

When a fellow nurse on her unit went on medical leave due to carpal tunnel syndrome, Veronica began to look at this everyday task differently. She recognized a problem that extended beyond inconvenience: the tools nurses relied on were not designed around their hands, their environment, or the realities of their work.

And she wondered: Why had no one made something better?

That question became the beginning of Popsy

Rather than accept the limitations of existing tools, Veronica began experimenting with a new approach. Drawing inspiration from an unlikely source—her own experience using an acrylic nail to open medication packaging—she started exploring how a small, purpose-built device could make the process easier and more efficient. Early ideas became prototypes, and prototypes became a growing vision for a product designed around the people who would use it most.

But turning a bedside observation into a real product required stepping into unfamiliar territory. With a background in nursing rather than industrial design or business, Veronica began learning how to prototype, refine, and develop an idea beyond the hospital. Through UCLA Biodesign, mentorship, design engineering, and innovation programs, she began building the foundation for what Popsy could become.