AAMI Welcomes New Editorial Board Members for 2022

Seven experts from across the medical device, health technology, and sterilization fields have joined AAMI’s Publications Editorial Board, where they will advise on the direction and content focus of AAMI’s award-winning publications. These seven experts are joining 19 of their colleagues from across industry, academia, regulation, and consulting. Pat Baird, regulatory head of global software standards at Philips remains the Publications Editorial Board chair for 2022.

AAMI’s publications include BI&T, (the peer-reviewed journal of health technology and sterilization) and AAMI News. Both serve as primary sources of news, practical guidance, research, and analysis for those working in medical device development, healthcare technology management, and sterilization.

“From industrial sterilization to the Internet of Things, AAMI’s Editorial Board members come from a variety of fields and backgrounds, representing the many stakeholders that AAMI serves. We rely on these experts to help our editors zero in on issues important to AAMI members, as well as to provide informed perspectives directly to readers through columns and perspective pieces,” said Gavin Stern, MPH, MS, editor in chief at AAMI and director of publications and media relations. “Thank you to all of our new and ongoing Editorial Board members!”

The seven new Editorial Board members include:

Jennifer Benolken
MDM & Regulatory Specialist, Packaging Engineering, Tyvek®, Medical Packaging
DuPont

Benolken has spent more than 30 years exploring the ins and outs of medical device packaging, giving her an especially unique and high-level view of the medical industry landscape. She has been a member and co-chair of several working groups focused on developing sterilization standards and is a member of Project Wicked Stability, which is dedicated to improving patient outcomes by creating a predictive stability model for common sterile barrier materials of construction.

Maggie Berkey
Senior BMET
CommonSpirit Health

AAMI’s 2021 BMET of the Year, Berkey is the co-creator of AAMI’s BMET Apprentices Program, a national registered apprenticeship program recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor. Called a “change-maker” by her colleagues, Berkey is dedicated to helping healthcare technology discover the right resources and guidance to further their careers at all levels.

Lena Cordie-Bancroft
Sector Lead – Healthcare
BSI

With nearly 20 years of experience in the health technology space, Cordie-Bancroft has a strong understanding of the medical device and sterilization industries at a global level. She has participated in several AAMI and ISO working groups, including serving as co-chair for AAMI’s sterilization terminology working group. In late 2021, Bancroft co-authored a proposed lexicon of sterility assurance definitions to address challenges associated with “global economic, distribution, and regulatory requirements that are often confounding and evolving.”

Kevin Fu
Acting Director, Medical Device Cybersecurity, FDA CDRH
Associate Professor, University of Michigan

An associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, is also the founder of the Archimedes Center for Medical Device Security at UM. Fu has served on several AAMI standards committees. In 2020, the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) named Fu as its acting director of medical device cybersecurity, a new position for the agency.

Christopher Gates
Director of Product Security
Velentium

Boasting more than 25 years of experience in the embedded software engineering space, Gates is an expert in the area of embedded and system level information security. A new contributor to AAMI’s CYBERINSIGHT column, Gates knows that security vulnerabilities can have dire consequences for the medical device industry when not properly appreciated.

“With both the rise of telehealth and the increasing connectivity of medical devices, cybersecurity represents an area of great concern for AAMI’s members and stakeholders, as well as a new regulatory frontier,” notes Gavin Stern MPH, MS, editor in chief at AAMI at director of publication and media relations.

Gates joins Fu in brining fresh perspectives for this important topic.

Erin Sparnon
Senior Engineering Manager, Health Devices
ECRI Institute

Sparnon leads a team in the testing and evaluation of medical devices, as well as accident and forensic investigations involving device failures. With nearly 20 years of experience as an engineer with an eye to patient safety, Sparnon has been a regular contributor to BI&T and AAMI News, presenter at numerous AAMI conferences, and member of the AAMI Standards Board.

Ali Youssef
Director, Medical Device and IoT Security
Henry Ford Health System

A specialist in medical device security and digital health with more than 20 years of experience, Youssef recently joined AAMI’s Healthcare Technology Leadership Committee to mentor future leaders for the HTM field. Now joining AAMI’s Editorial Board as well, he aims to help build crucial bridges between the increasingly overlapping fields of HTM and health IT.