By Helen Shammas

Technology has revolutionized the healthcare industry, and medical device conferences have played a crucial role in advancing this technology. Medical device conferences provide a platform for healthcare professionals and technology developers to showcase the latest advancements in the field. As a student in the Center for Medical Technology and Innovation (CMTI) Biomedical Engineering Master’s  Program, I was particularly interested in MD&M West which is part of the largest annual advanced manufacturing event in the US and the conferences that showcase MedTech industry leaders and innovations. The conference included many events, including but not limited to networking opportunities, exhibits, workshops, and speakers.

One of the workshops that was interesting to me was a case study on medical devices and clinical trends. This workshop focused on what trends are driving some of the biggest changes in the industry, it spoke about the effects of our daily changes on the MedTech “ecosystem”. The speaker highlighted how the pandemic revealed how truly broken the supply chain system is, how many alterations had to be enforced within a very short period of time, and the increased demand for telehealth among health professionals. The case study also highlighted the trend for non-invasive solutions. This part was particularly relevant to my CMTI project which focuses on a non-invasive surgical procedure.

Another particularly interesting session was a speaker panel from Johnson & Johnson, the medical devices and pharmaceutical company. They started by talking about their different experiences and background but then gave a lot of amazing advice starting from how to get into a company like J&J, but also how to properly self-examine yourself and your efforts to further grow. They talked about how it is important to always work on your leadership qualities and never stop networking as leveraging internal relationships can often be the key to success. The setup of this session included some informal networking and two of the panel speakers were willing to have a lengthier chat with me after the session which was extremely informative and useful for my next steps.

The conference however was not only limited to these speakers and workshops. The exhibit hall was one of the biggest that I’ve ever seen. The variety of technologies was astounding, ranging from robotic arms and manufacturing setups to hydrophobic materials and lab equipment. Everybody was extremely friendly, and once they knew that I’m a student, they were happy to talk to me about what they do, their main products, and also about their life in the company, and if they had openings. More importantly, I went to the conference with the mindset of finding technologies that may be useful to my project or other projects in my class. This was indeed possible, and many representatives were happy to talk about their usual applications and the limits of their products. I did leave the conference with so much more information and well so many more brochures, booklets, and business cards for all these companies.

I wanted to thank the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation for offering me the support necessary to attend this opportunity. This support is what helped me learn so much more about a side of the medical industry that I’ve never seen before. It allowed me to network with potential useful resources for my project and provided me with the opportunity to meet experienced leaders and entrepreneurs in the field.

Helen Shammas ‘23 is a master’s student in the Center for Medical Technology and Innovation (CMTI) Biomedical Engineering Master’s Program. She graduated last year from the University of Rochester with a major in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Chemical Engineering. She balances both her program and research at the Chia-Lung Lab with the simple connection of being extremely interested in orthopedics. After graduation, Helen is interested in pursuing a career in manufacturing and is interested in improving the translation from the lab to scale-up.