Medical Devices Conference is April 14-16 at the University of Minnesota

Medical device leaders from across the country, in both industry and academia, will converge at the University of Minnesota’s Eighth Annual Design of Medical Devices Conference (DMD) on Tuesday – Thursday, April 14-16, 2009, at the Radisson University Hotel, 615 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis. The conference will address major trends related to medical device design, policy, engineering, education and commercialization.

"The DMD conference continues to grow by all measures, illustrating the critical importance of medical devices and surrounding technologies, policies and clinical needs," said Art Erdman, a University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor and conference co-chair. “Nine years ago we had a vision to establish an event where leaders from academia and industry would come together to share the latest in medical device design. This vision has become a successful reality and continues to exceed even our own expectations.” More than 900 people are expected to attend this year’s conference.

The conference includes two days of technical sessions, including topics such as cardiovascular engineering, neuroengineering, nano/MEMS devices, medical electronics, technology assessment, human factors, orthopedics, surgical simulators, health informatics, military medical devices, surgical tools, conflicts of interest in healthcare, tissue engineering and much more. Conference attendees will also be able to observe a live surgery that will be broadcasted via videoconference from the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview. There will be two scientific poster sessions that will showcase more than 100 emerging topics in biomedical engineering and medical device design.

The third day of the conference includes The President's 21st Century Interdisciplinary Conference: “Translational Research: from Prototype to Product.” Keynote presenters include professor Bruce Blazer, Chief of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program and Director-ACH-Center for Translational Medicine, University of Minnesota; professor Frank Cerra, senior vice president for Health Sciences, University of Minnesota; Mir Imran, managing general partner, Incube Laboratories; Mark Kroll, California Polytechnic University; professor Russell Luepke, Mayo Professor of Public Health, University of Minnesota; Dave Stassen, M.B.A., managing director Split Rock Partners; and Dale Wahlstrom, BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota.

The conference is presented by the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Engineering in Medicine’s Medical Devices Center, the Institute of Technology (College of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics), the Academic Health Center, the Office of the President, and the department of mechanical engineering. Several corporations are also providing industry sponsorships including Boston Scientific, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, 3M and Minnetronix.

For more information on the Design of Medical Devices Conference or to register, visit www.dmdconf.org. Online registration ends April 8, 2009, walk-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is recommended.