MDEA Announces 2006 Juror Panel

Organizers of the Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA) competition have announced the members of the 2006 juror panel for the competition, as selected by a team of medical industry editors from Canon Communications LLC (Los Angeles), publisher of MX magazine and the presenter of the awards program.

Established in 1998, the MDEA competition recognizes the design achievements and healthcare contributions of medical product manufacturers. Judging of each year’s entries is conducted by an impartial panel of jurors who carefully review all of the submissions and narrow them down to a select group of exceptional products in each of the competition’s 10 categories.

Recommendations of potential MDEA jurors come from a wide variety of sources, including academic and professional organizations, industry associations, and previous jurors. Background materials about juror candidates are reviewed by a team of medical industry editors from Canon Communications, who then select each year’s jurors as necessary to provide balanced expertise for the competition’s categories.

Hyman: Encouraging excellence.

“Being a juror is an outstanding opportunity to see what’s new, and to help encourage excellence in design by working as a team to reward those manufacturers whose achievement is superior,” says juror William A. Hyman. “The number of submissions demonstrates that being an MDEA winner is indeed something to strive for, and this adds to juror enthusiasm.”

David: Promoting safety.

“The competition is important because it allows jurors with engineering and clinical expertise to promote desired safe use characteristics in products that intend to manage health-related conditions,” says juror Yadin B. David. “The result is an encouragement for future products and public recognition for present ones.”

The jury panel typically encompasses experts from a wide range of healthcare- and design-related fields, including clinical practice, biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, manufacturing, and other areas. Members of the 2006 MDEA juror panel are the following.

• Tor Alden, Principal, HS Design Inc. (Gladstone, NJ).

• Gail D. Baura, PhD, Vice President for Research and Chief Scientist, CardioDynamics (San Diego).

• Jeff L. Butler, Principal Engineer, Sysmed Enterprises Inc. (Richardson, TX).

• Yadin B. David, EdD, Director, Biomedical Engineering and Television Services, Texas Children’s Hospital (Houston).

• Jay R. Goldberg, PhD, PE, Director, Healthcare Technologies Management Program, Marquette University (Milwaukee).

• William A. Hyman, ScD, MS, PE, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University (College Station, TX).

• Denise M. Korniewicz, RN, DNSc, Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Research, University of Miami School of Nursing (Miami, FL).

• Mary Beth Privitera, M. of Design, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Medical Device Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati).

• Michael P. Schollmeyer, DVM, Director of Clinical Research, CHF Solutions Inc. (Brooklyn Park, MN).

• Mark S. Vreeke, PhD, Senior Partner, Rational Systems LLC (Granger, IN).

• Matthew Bret Weinger, MD, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Division of Perioperative Health Services Research (Nashville).

Alternate jurors for the 2006 MDEA competition are the following.

• Kouros Azar, MD (Thousand Oaks, CA).

• Laura Bix, PhD, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, School of Packaging (East Lansing, MI).

• Walter Greenleaf, PhD, President, Greenleaf Medical (Palo Alto, CA).

• Craig M. Jackson, PhD, President and Chief Technical Officer, Hemosaga Diagnostics Corp. (San Diego).

When considering juror nominees, Canon’s editors pay particular attention to the need for a balanced, multidisciplinary, and impartial jury. Jurors cannot be affiliated with a company that is submitting a product for consideration. Entries are not accepted from sponsoring companies or from jurors, their companies, or those companies’ subsidiaries in the year they act as sponsors or jurors.

Schollmeyer: Seeing both sides.

Schollmeyer, who is new to the panel this year, will have experienced the competition from both sides. “Our company received a Medical Design Excellence Award in 2004. I thought it would be appropriate to experience the judging process for this year’s entrants,” he says.

The MDEA competition accepts entries in 10 product categories:

• Critical-care and emergency medicine products.

• Dental instruments, equipment, and supplies.

• Finished packaging.

• General hospital devices and therapeutic products.

• Implant and tissue-replacement products.

• In vitro diagnostics.

• Over-the-counter and self-care products.

• Radiological and electromechanical devices.

• Rehabilitation and assistive-technology products.

• Surgical equipment, instruments, and supplies.

Vreeke: Creating context.

Over the three-day judging period, teams of jurors evaluate all of the year’s entries and narrow them down to a select group of exceptional products in each of the categories. “One of the jurors’ roles is to put the entries’ design and innovation into the context of what exists in the field,” says Vreeke. When reviewing the products, the jurors consider all of the following criteria.

• Innovative use of materials, components, or processes in the fabrication of the product.

• The ability of the product development team to overcome design and engineering challenges so that the product meets its clinical objectives.

• User-related design and engineering features that improve healthcare delivery, with special attention to functional innovations that broaden the scope of users, change traditional medical attitudes or practices, or offer significant use-related improvements.

• Design and engineering features that provide enhanced benefits to the patient (e.g., comfort, fit, service access, safety, appropriate aesthetics, overall improvement of healthcare).

• Aspects of product design and engineering that improve the manufacturer’s profitability.

• Product features that improve the overall delivery of healthcare.

Alden: High expectations.

“As a designer, I obviously look at design as having an important role in helping to make products more intuitive and easy to use. For this award, however, it is also important to focus on breakthrough innovation,” says Alden. “With that said, I also have an expectation that to win a gold, the product has to score well in all areas . . . innovation, patient benefit, business benefit, and solid design and engineering.”

Each year’s MDEA-winning products are publicly announced in the April issue of Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry magazine. Winners in the 2006 competition will receive gold- or silver-level awards at a special ceremony during the Medical Design & Manufacturing East Conference and Exposition, to be held June 5–8, in New York City.

For further information about the MDEA competition, visit the awards Web site at www.MDEAwards.com.

© 2006 Canon Communications LLC

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