Welcome to Limber Prosthetics’ new Employee Spotlight Series, where we celebrate the people driving our mission to make prosthetic care more accessible for amputees worldwide. This series takes you behind the scenes with Limber’s founders and team members, offering an inside look at the passion, expertise, and personal stories that shape our work.
Meet Joshua Pelz, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Limber Prosthetics.
From the trails of Oregon to the labs of UC San Diego, Josh’s journey has been guided by curiosity, ingenuity, and a deep commitment to making a real world impact. Josh spent his childhood in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by forests and trails in Portland, Oregon.
Working as an intern in his mother’s lab in early adulthood exposed him to the world of experimentation and problem-solving, an experience that would later shape his approach to prosthetic innovation. Josh credits his mother, a devoted cancer researcher, for sparking his early interest in science. “I was always interested in doing some sort of research or science, maybe discovering something,” he says.
Josh’s Journey to Prosthetics
Josh received his B.S. in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. Initially, Josh was aiming to be an aerospace engineer, but through the course of his studies, his interest eventually shifted toward materials science, specifically, 3D printed advanced ceramics. This early interest in 3D printing laid the groundwork for his doctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego, where Josh graduated with his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering in 2022. 
The PhD program in Materials Science and Engineering at UC San Diego allowed Josh to continue his work on 3D-printed ceramics with the purpose of protective applications (a project funded by the United States Army). It was also during his time at UCSD that Josh began to explore prosthetic technology through a transformative class focused on accessibility in prosthetics.
“That class truly shaped my passion for prosthetics,” Josh explains. “We focused on developing rapid, deployable, and scalable prosthetic technology that could be used anywhere in the world.”
Building Limber Prosthetics
Josh co-founded Limber Prosthetics with fellow UCSD graduate student, Luca De Vivo Nicoloso, PhD, Structural Engineering, and Certified Prosthetist & Orthotist, Herb Barrack. The team combines decades of research, engineering, and clinical practice.
Josh leads the company as Chief Executive Officer. His role as CEO focuses on fundraising, scaling the business, and Josh’s personal favorite — product development.
“I really love thinking about the product — improving existing devices and developing new ones,” he says. From the beginning, the mission was clear: create accessible, scalable, and deployable prosthetic devices for patients worldwide. Today, Limber commercially serves amputees across the USA and has fit hundreds of patients globally.
Inspiration and Motivation
Josh’s personal passion for prosthetics took shape during an early clinical trip to Ensenada, Mexico with his co-founders, now a recurring part of Limber’s ongoing mission. Conducted in partnership with the Rotary Club of Coronado and the Calafia Rotary Club of Ensenada through the Limbs of Freedom project, these trips support a long-standing international humanitarian initiative that has served amputees for more than 20 years. Working directly with underserved patients, Josh and the Limber team use smartphone-based scanning technology to efficiently create custom-fit prosthetic legs, allowing him to witness firsthand the immediate, life-changing impact of accessible prosthetic care.
“A patient comes in and, in 24 hours, their life is completely changed. Watching that was almost addictive,” he says. These experiences inspired him to pursue a career focused on real-world impact, rather than simply innovation for innovation’s sake.
Why Limber is so Unique.
For Josh, Limber’s unique value comes from its patient-first approach. “We didn’t start by looking at what’s most lucrative or easiest to reimburse. We started by asking: What’s best for the patient?” he explains. This philosophy, combined with a commitment to innovation and accessibility, guides every decision, ensuring that Limber continues to set new standards in prosthetic care.
Josh credits his team and mentors for supporting Limber’s vision, emphasizing that building a strong team is essential for success. His guiding philosophy, both professionally and personally, is to keep the “opportunity space” wide open — exploring, learning, and taking the time to find work he’s truly passionate about.
Looking Ahead
“My dream is to fit Limber’s millionth patient,” he says.
By responsibly scaling operations and maintaining high-quality manufacturing standards, he hopes to make Limber’s technology accessible to clinics worldwide. For his personal ambitions, Josh dreams of traveling the globe to deploy Limber’s prosthetic solutions, combining his curiosity for the world with meaningful clinical impact.
“You’ve got to care about your customers. You have to enjoy being challenged, build a strong team, and communicate well with everyone involved — from customers to investors. That is what separates a successful founder from an unsuccessful one.”