Safety Risk Management for Medical Devices

Bijan Elahi is an expert on a world scale in safety risk management for medical technology. Mr. Elahi’s mission is to elevate knowledge and proficiency in medical device risk management to the highest levels worldwide via teaching, coaching, and mentoring, for the benefit of companies and society. He has 30+ years of experience in risk management, working with the largest medical device companies in the world, as well as with small start-ups. He is a lecturer at Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands), where he teaches a graduate-level course in medical device risk management. The audience for this education is doctoral students in engineering as well as physicians and professionals in the medical device sector. Additionally, Mr. Elahi is a lecturer at Drexel University in Philadelphia (USA), and at Delft University of Technology (Netherlands). He is the recipient of the Educator of the Year Award by the International System Safety Society. In 2019 he received an award in recognition of Outstanding Development of Analytical Methods to Support Medical Device System Safety. Mr. Elahi has a long history of medical device development spanning class III implantable pulse generators, electro-mechanical, and disposable devices. His most recent product was a Deep Brain Stimulator (DBS) implant for Parkinson’s disease. The knowledge that he imparts in his book is rooted in state-of-the-art practical knowledge in medical device development. Mr. Elahi is a Technical Fellow and a corporate advisor at Medtronic. In this role, he teaches and consults on medical device risk management to all Medtronic business units worldwide, including China, India, Middle East, Europe and North America. Mr. Elahi is a contributor to ISO 14971, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of System Safety, a publication of the International System Safety Society. Mr. Elahi is a frequently invited speaker and lecturer at international conferences. Earlier in his distinguished career, he was a systems engineer on the Space Shuttle at NASA (USA). Mr. Elahi holds an MS Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Washington and a BS Aerospace Engineering degree from Iowa State University, United States.

1. Why do risk management? 2. Fundamentals of risk management 3. Understanding risk 4. Risk Management standards 5. Requirements of a compliant risk management process 6. Quality management system 7. Usability engineering and risk management 8. Biocompatibility and risk management 9. Risk management process 10. Risk analysis techniques 11. Safety vs. reliability 12. Influence of security on safety 13. Software risk management 14. Integration of risk analyses 15. Risk estimation 16. Risk controls 17. Risk evaluation 18. Risk assessment and control table 19. On testing 20. Verification of risk controls 21. Benefit-risk analysis 22. Production and post-production monitoring 23. Traceability 24. Risk management for clinical investigations 25. Risk management for legacy devices 26. Relationship between ISO 14971 and other safety standards 27. Risk management process metrics 28. Risk management and product development process 29. Critical thinking and risk management 30. Advice and wisdom