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Autumn is upon us, and it is once again time to sip a pumpkin spice latte — or a pumpkin beer — and crack open our latest Medical Device Handbook.
Once again, we’ve reached out to experts across the industry to curate dozens of “what is” and “how to” types of articles that cover a breadth of categories: components, drug delivery, manufacturing and machining, materials, product design and development, regulatory, software, sterilization services and tubing.
As the years go by, I’m proud that we’re including more insights from the major medical device companies in each succeeding issue. This time around, we spoke to experts involved in some of the major industry innovations of the past decade:
- Now VP of R&D for Medtronic’s cardiac diagnostics and services business, Leonardo Rapallini was the Micra effort’s senior program director for nearly five years. He goes over insights gained from the creation of the tiny implantable pacemaker.
- Stryker executive Naomi Murray described how additive manufacturing is advancing orthopedics during one of our DeviceTalks Tuesdays webinars.
- Brian Dunkin, chief medical officer of Boston Scientific’s endoscopy division, discusses the challenges the company overcame to make single-use scopes a reality.
- Mark Day, iRhythm’s EVP of R&D, tells the story of a heart rhythm monitoring company seeking to change the game in a space that has been dominated for years by the Holter Monitor.
- CardioFocus VP of Engineering Jerry Melsky describes the components and design considerations that go into making successful ablation catheters to treat AFib.
- Sean Chow, a senior director of R&D at Edwards Lifesciences, goes over three pitfalls that creators of catheter-based delivery systems should avoid.
We also have articles in which top U.S. researchers describe work on everything from pacemakers that dissolve inside the body to building better protective masks. And as usual, we tapped the industry’s large network of contract manufacturers, suppliers and consultants for contributed articles that are high on usefulness and low on self-promotion.
On top of the Handbook, I’m excited to announce that Medical Design & Outsourcing has a new managing editor: Jim Hammerand. Jim’s past experience includes nearly a decade at American City Business Journals, most recently as managing editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal serving the Seattle region, where he is based.
I worked with Jim when he first covered medtech as a digital editor at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. He’s a quick study, a skillful writer and editor — and one of the most decent people I know. I’m excited to see where Jim takes MDO in the future.
Chris Newmarker
Executive Editor
Medical Design & Outsourcing
cnewmarker@wtwhmedia.com
