Sigma Xi Public Talk
What Makes Medical Technology Work?
Presented by Kenneth R. Foster, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
The complex interplay between the development of technology as seen by engineers, and the medical, regulatory, and economic factors that determine success is frequently overlooked by engineers. And the
consequences can be very expensive. I consider three cases that illustrate the problem. The first is infrared imaging of the breast for screening for cancer. The technique provides highly sensitive (in an engineering sense) and detailed thermal images of the breast but, after decades of work and premarket approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the technique has never succeeded medically or commercially. The second is the role of smartphone apps in medicine. The FDA has recently stated its intention to regulate some apps as medical devices and subject to the FDA's premarket approval process -which could introduce a standard of proof of safety and efficacy that few app developers could meet. A final example is the order in September 2013 by the FDA preventing the marketing of a popular
genetic testing service (23andme.com). These technologies all work in a technical sense, but making them work in the real world of medicine, regulation, and economics is a different matter entirely.
5:00 pm, Thursday, March 6, 2014
Room C, UNM Conference Center
Northeast corner of Indian School and University
Individuals with disabilities who need an auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in P&A events should contact the Physics Department (phone: 505-277-2616, email: physics@unm.edu) well in advance to ensure your needs are accomodated. Event handouts can be provided in alternative accessible formats upon request. Please contact the Physics front office if you need written information in an alternative format.
A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php