It is now a tradition that our lab members contribute significantly to the success of the WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices. Last edition saw Dr Pecchia acting as Chair for the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) track.

This edition will see our lab contributing in different manners.

Davide Piaggio, PhD student in our lab, will present his contribution titled “Design, assessment and maintenance of medical devices resilience to Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) working conditions: the Warwick experience”, presenting all the ongoing projects in SSA and prepared in collaboration with several co-authors Dr Ashenafi Hussein (Ethiopia), Prof Daton Medenou and Dr Roland Houessouvo (Benin) and Alessia Maccaro (Italy).

Carlo Federici, PhD student in our lab, has been invited to participate to a panel titled “The use of real-world data and evidence for medical devices assessment”.

Dr Pecchia has been invited to contribute to the WHO GFMD organising workshops and round tables, including the following:

• “Harmonising medical device and medical location policies among Africa and Europe”, which will be opened by the European Parliament Member Nicola Caputo (Chair of the EPIG BME) and will see contributions by Dr Ashenafi Hussein (Ethiopia), Dr Sudesh Sivarasu (South Africa), Prof Nicolas Pallikarakis (Greece) and Dr Leandro Pecchia. This workshop, following the recent EPIG BME meeting organised in Brussels in October 2018, will report on the ambitious project, coordinated by Dr Pecchia and financed by an EPSRC IAA and GRCF, and promoting the idea that Europe should make an effort to facilitate the harmonization of regulations among Europe and SSA countries in the best interest of African economy and quality of life.
• “3D printing, artificial intelligence and design of medical devices for low resource settings”, which will be Chaired by Dr Pecchia and will see contributions form Dr Carmelo De Maria (Italy), Ashenafi Hussein (Ethiopia), Dr Sudesh Sivarasu (South Africa) and Almir Badnjevic (Bosnia Herzegovina). This workshop will illustrate the common vision and experiences of the panellists on who to use emerging paradigms for the local manufacturing of appropriate medical devices in lower-income countries, and in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• “The role of biomedical engineers on HTA of medical devices”, during which Dr Ernesto Iadanza (Chair IFMBE HTAD 2018-21), Dr Leandro Pecchia (Chair IFMBE HTAD 2013-15), Prof Nicolas Pallikarakis (Chair IFMBE HTAD 2013-15), MSc Murilo Conto (WHO PAHO) and Julie Polisena (CADHTA) will illustrate the growing contribution that BME is giving to HTA, especially for medical devices.
• “HTAi, ISPOR, INAHTA, IFMBE, IUPESM and WHO joint panel on HTA of Medical Devices”, organised by Dr Pecchia (which will bring to the table the prospective of IUPESM), this panel will see representatives of the main scientific societies working on HTA of medical devices, discussing common future initiatives: Dr Ernesto Iadanza (IFMBE), Amy Pavlock (ISPOR), Julie Polisena (HTAi), Leandro Pecchia (IUPESM), Dinsie Williams (INAHTA), Adriana Velazquez Berumen (WHO)

The final program is avaliable here: https://www.4gfmd2018.org/