MD&M West 2026
February 3–5, 2026
Anaheim Convention Center – Anaheim, CA
www.mdmwest.com
MD&M West: Turning a Big Show Into Targeted Value
With multiple co-located expos, a dense education schedule, and a show floor spanning the entire medical device lifecycle, success at MD&M West depends less on seeing everything than on seeing the right things. This guide takes a tactical view of the event — highlighting role-based education paths, newly emphasized features, and practical strategies for navigating the show efficiently. For attendees refining their plans or looking for overlooked opportunities once on site, the goal is simple: turn time at MD&M West into usable insight, productive connections, and forward momentum.
Education Paths Aligned to Real Job Functions
Rather than navigating the agenda chronologically, attendees can extract more value by aligning education choices with their roles and immediate challenges. Below is a selection of sessions curated for key areas of medtech design and development.
Design and R&D • Track: Design Forward Suggested Sessions:
February 3
10:15–11 AM
Maciej Postek, Team Lead Project Management Corscience GmbH & Co. KG
Engineering Compact AEDs: Overcoming the Challenges of Miniaturization
The market for automated external defibrillators (AEDs) is evolving rapidly as demand grows for compact, intuitive, and affordable devices that can be used in everyday environments, not just in clinical or professional settings. However, making AEDs smaller and simpler to use without compromising safety or performance presents significant technical challenges.
This presentation explores the multifaceted engineering and design hurdles associated with AED miniaturization, such as creepage and clearance compliance, electromagnetic interference resistance, temperature sensitivity, and high-voltage switching requirements on a microsecond scale. At the same time, cost-efficiency remains essential to ensure broad market adoption.
February 4
10:15–11 AM
Andy Glaser, Vice President of Strategy ATS Life Sciences Systems
From Concept to Production: Deploying Digital Tools for Complex Medical Device Automation
Time matters. COVID-19 accelerated time-to-market expectations for medtech products. Since then, the processes of finalizing device design, applying DFM/DFA principles, and building automated manufacturing systems often occur simultaneously. This overlap introduces significant risks to product launches, costs, and timelines. This presentation reviews a paradigm in navigating the process of launching medical devices to market utilizing proven digital technologies beyond the digital twin model.
Manufacturing and Operations • Track: Manufacturing & Supply Chain Suggested Sessions:
February 3
2:15–3:00 PM
Paul Speakman, Vice President, Sales and Client Relations
Jaguar Freight Services
Built to Heal: Supply Chain Resilience and Agility in the Medical Device Industry
This session explores how medical device companies can design and manage supply chains that are both resilient to disruption and agile enough to support rapid shifts in demand, regulation, and sourcing. Attendees will gain a practical understanding of how strategic supply chain design — combined with risk-aware operations and smart logistics planning — can help ensure product availability, regulatory compliance, and business continuity.
Key discussion points include supply chain strategies for managing supplier risk and diversification; the role of visibility and data in proactive decision-making; regionalization, nearshoring, and other structural approaches to improving responsiveness; and more. The session is designed for supply chain leaders, operations executives, and logistics professionals in the medical device sector. It will combine strategic insight with real-world examples to help attendees assess and strengthen their own supply chain capabilities.
February 4
11:15 AM–12:00 PM
Hsiao-Wei Tang, PhD, CEO Maxima Biotech
Beyond Semiconductors: Architecting National Medical Autonomy Through Taiwan’s Medtech Foundry Model
In a world defined by shifting borders and disrupted lanes, medical devices have joined semiconductors as critical pillars of national security. When global supply chains fracture, how do nations ensure clinical stability and sovereign resilience? Hsiao-Wei Tang reveals the “MedTech Foundry” model — a strategic blueprint for achieving national medical device autonomy, including how Taiwan is leveraging its “Semiconductor DNA” to solve the industry’s most complex challenges: bridging the gap between high-volume efficiency and rigorous medical compliance. Using the development of a cordless ultrasonic surgical platform as a high-stakes case study, this session demonstrates how to master the integration of power electronics, mechatronics, and clinical validation. Don’t just change your sourcing address; learn how to anchor your innovation in a trusted, high-density resilience ecosystem.
Quality/Regulatory and Compliance • Track: Quality Excellence/Compliance Lab Suggested Sessions:
February 3
10:15–11 AM
Santosh Kumar Suggu, Director of Quality International Medical Industries
Shifting Gears: From QC to QA in Supplier Quality
Relying on incoming inspection to manage supplier quality is no longer enough — especially with tighter timelines and growing regulatory expectations. This session explores how some medical device manufacturers are shifting from reactive quality control to proactive quality assurance across their supply base.
Through real-world examples — such as improving supplier process control, validating critical manufacturing steps, and addressing issues before they reach your dock —the session highlights practical strategies grounded in FDA QMSR, ISO 13485, and ISO 14971.
If you’re looking to qualify suppliers based on risk, improve consistency, and reduce late-stage surprises, this session will offer the tools to take that next step.
February 4
2:15–3:00 PM
Michael Drues, President Vascular Sciences
Most Common Problems Found During FDA Inspections and What Should We Do to Prevent Them
What are the most common causes of 483 observations and warning letters from FDA? Corrective Action Preventive Action aka CAPAs, design controls, and complaints combined have led to ~35 percent of all medical device 483 observations.
Rounding out the top 10 reasons include inadequate documentation of procedures, training, investigations, purchasing controls, process validation, and medical device reporting (MDR). Collectively, these top 10 reasons for citations make up ~75 percent of 483 observations and warning letters. What’s most discouraging: this “trend” has remained the same for the of past 16 of 17 years. How do we explain this?
Many are familiar with Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. However, here is a slightly different definition more applicable here: repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting a different result. Regrettably, the statistics above fit Einstein’s definition perfectly.
Many think that practice makes perfect. But it is not true: perfect practice makes perfect. If we continue to practice making the same mistakes, we will get very good at making those same mistakes. The statistics above demonstrate that the medical device industry has gotten very good at making the same mistakes over and over and over again.
Using the case study approach, participants will learn best practices to avoid these all too common and costly mistakes.
Transformative Technology • Track: NextTech Suggested Sessions:
February 3
11:15 AM–12 PM
Brian Charlesworth, CEO and Founder
Ultraviolet
How AI Is Transforming Medical Device Design and Development — and How to Implement It in Your R&D
AI is revolutionizing the way medical devices are designed, developed, and brought to market — from ground-breaking surgical tools to next-gen health wearables.
In this session, Brian Charlesworth shares how innovative teams are harnessing AI to drive faster product development, improve patient outcomes, and optimize clinical processes — and how teams like yours can use AI to change how we think of medical devices.
You’ll discover how AI is enabling smarter design, accelerating iterations, and analyzing massive amounts of data to unlock new possibilities. Learn how R&D teams are using AI to scale feedback loops, making devices more user-friendly and improving accessibility for patients.
Most importantly, you’ll leave the session with an understanding of how AI possibilities can inspire your own team and organization’s product ideation, current device augmentation, and medical device development. With actionable strategies and real-world examples, you’ll learn how to implement AI to drive success and stay ahead of the curve.
In an industry where innovation is constant, those who do not embrace AI will likely be left behind. This session intends to equip you with the tools and mindset needed to lead your team in adopting AI, transforming your processes, and staying competitive in the fast-evolving medtech landscape.
February 3
1:15–2 PM
Carl Douglass, Solutionologist and CEO
DI Labs
Accelerating Medical Device Development with Additive Manufacturing: From Concept to Commercialization
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a powerful tool for accelerating regulated medical device development — but its value hinges on how and when it’s applied. This session explores the real-world use of polymer AM for producing Class II and III medical device components (excluding implantables), with a focus on accelerating iteration, enabling human feedback, and supporting clinical and commercial success.
This talk dives into practical considerations that determine whether AM helps or hinders a program. Topics will include program structuring for flexibility, managing traceability and risk, understanding regulatory expectations, preparing for process validation, and navigating post-processing and material selection — all through the lens of production readiness.
Attendees will hear lessons learned from real-world applications — some that scaled successfully and others that struggled due to misalignment between AM use and compliance requirements. The session presents strategies for keeping AM from becoming a liability and explores how cross-functional teams can apply it with confidence across product development and early-stage production.
This session is ideal for program managers, quality and operations leaders, and product development professionals looking to integrate additive into their medical device strategy. Whether you’re exploring AM for the first time or refining an existing approach, you’ll gain actionable insights to help bring safe, effective products to market faster — with less risk and greater clarity.
