Applied Science and Engineering of Wound Dressings and their Clinical Effectiveness

Professor Amit Gefen received the B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tel Aviv University in 1994, 1997, and 2001, respectively. During 2002-2003 he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is currently a Full Professor with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Tel Aviv University and the Herbert J. Berman Chair in Vascular Bioengineering. Prof. Gefen has also been the Head of the Ela Kodesz Institute for Medical Engineering and Physical Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The research interests of Prof. Gefen are in studying normal and pathological effects of biomechanical factors on the structure and function of cells, tissues and organs, with emphasis on applications in chronic wound research. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Biomechanics (published by Elsevier), and has also edited several books and several Special Issues in journals such as the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Journal of Biomechanics, Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering and more. Recently, Prof. Gefen chaired the Etiology expert panel for development of the International Pressure Ulcer Prevention & Treatment Guidelines (2019) and also chaired the global panel of experts who developed the International Consensus Document for Device-related Pressure Ulcers, published by the Journal of Wound Care (2020).

Part 1a: Introduction: An evidence-based, clinically relevant approach to dressing design and evaluation 1. Clinical wound care and management translated to the requirements from effective wound dressings Part 1b: Science and engineering of treatment dressings 2. Physical and chemical characteristics of common dressing materials 3. Material characteristics and dressing constructs and composites 4. Biocompatibility, biological & physiological impact of dressing materials and structures 5. Fluid-structure characteristics and interactions 6. Mechanical and contact characteristics 7. Thermal characteristics 8. Biological and physiological impacts of dressing performances 9. Theoretical interrelationships among dressing properties that affect performances Part 2: Clinical practice and patient experience criteria 10. Ease of clinical use and medical benefits 11. Acceptability to patients and immediate care givers 12. Cost-effectiveness 13. Potential trade-offs between engineering and clinical dressing requirements and patient experience