Medical Design Excellence Awards Recognize Manufacturing Excellence

The Medical Design Excellence Awards have been launched by Canon Communications to recognize excellence in medical manufacturing. These awards, which are endorsed and administered by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), will cover two categories. The first award category targets finished medical devices. This category is open to any product which is regulated as a medical device by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is commercially available in the US. The second category focuses on materials and components intended for medical applications.

A six-member panel of industry experts will judge entries. These experts include Kent Ritzel, chair of the IDSA Medical Section and director for Metaphase Design Group; Leonard Friedman, head of the product development department at the American Red Cross Holland Laboratory (Rockville, MD); James Young, president and COO of General Physiotherapy; Seth Banks, manager of global design and user interface for GE Medical Systems; Bill Wood, vice president research and development for RELA; and Bronwen Walters, president of Outcomes Analysis Corp.

Entries will be evaluated for innovation, functional improvement, and business impact. Winners will be recognized at an awards dinner during the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East show held June 2-4, 1998 in New York City.

The deadline for entries is January 26, 1998. Finalists will be announced in March 1998. To receive an application contact Kathy Leftwich at (703) 759-0100 or Amy Allen at (310) 392-5509.