008 MDEA Jurors Announced

Organizers of the Medical Design Excellence Awards program have announced the members of the jury panel who will be charged with evaluating entries in the 2008 competition.

Members of the MDEA jury are selected each year by a panel of editors from Canon Communications (Los Angeles), presenter of the awards program. 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. Jurors named to the panel for 2008 are as follows.

Kouros Azar, MD (Thousand Oaks, CA), a biomedical engineer and a practicing plastic surgeon with a specialization in complex reconstructive and aesthetic surgical techniques.

Warren S. Grundfest, MD, professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering in the School of Engineering, and professor of surgery in the School of Medicine, at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Ogan Gurel, MD, chairman of the Aesis Research Group LLC (Chicago) and an adjunct associate professor of bioengineering at the University of Illinois–Chicago.

Balakrishna Haridas, PhD, director of the National Science Foundation Minimally Invasive Medical Technologies Center (MIMTeC) and an associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

Edmond W. Israelski, PhD, human factors program manager for Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL).

Pascal Malassigné, MID, professor of industrial design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, research industrial designer at the Milwaukee Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and adjunct assistant professor of rehabilitation at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Jerry K. McVicker, PhD, scientific director of Midland Bioproducts Corp. (Boone, IA), a company that develops human and veterinary diagnostic assays.

Sandra J. Miller, managing director of the Stanford Biodesign Program at Stanford University ( Palo Alto, CA).

E. William Schneeberger, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center's department of surgery, division of cardiac surgery.

Robert Virag, founder and principal of Trifid Medical Group LLC and Alveoli Medical LLC (Chesterfield, MO).

Herbert F. Voigt, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering and research professor of otolaryngology at Boston University . Voigt is president and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (Washington, DC).

Michael E. Wiklund, president of Wiklund Research & Design Inc. (Concord, MA).

The MDEA competition is the premier awards program for the medical technology community, offering recognition to manufacturers, suppliers, and the many people behind the scenes—engineers, scientists, designers, and clinicians—who are responsible for the groundbreaking innovations that are changing the face of healthcare. Now entering its 11th year, the program has previously presented awards to more than 250 groundbreaking healthcare products.

When considering juror nominees, Canon's editors pay particular attention to the need for a balanced, multidisciplinary, and impartial jury. For this reason, jurors cannot be affiliated with a company that is submitting a product for consideration.

In addition to the 12 full jurors, the organizers have appointed five alternate jurors who may be asked to serve if the need arises. Alternate jurors are as follows.

Laura Bix, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI).

William A. Hyman, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU; College Station, TX).

Craig M. Jackson, PhD, president of Hemosaga Diagnostics Corp. (San Diego).

Eliot Lazar, MD, principal of elCON Medical ( Buffalo, NY).

Mark S. Vreeke, PhD, senior partner at Rational Systems LLC (Houston).

To be eligible for the 2008 competition, products must be commercially available—able to be ordered or purchased—by December 31, 2007. The final deadline for entries (with payment of a late fee) is January 18, 2008.

Winning products will be announced in April 2008, and honored with gold and silver awards in a ceremony during the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East Conference and Exposition, June 3–5, 2008, at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

The MDEA competition accepts the endorsement of professional and industry organizations whose members are involved in the design and development of medical technologies. Endorsing organizations supply expertise that assists in the development of the competition. Endorsing organizations of the MDEA program currently include the following.

For additional details, including a downloadable entry form, entrants should visit the MDEA Web site at www.MDEAwards.com.

© 2007 Canon Communications LLC

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