Regulation of medical devices is a crucial aspect of the healthcare field that many of us depend on in our everyday lives. Online Regulatory Affairs faculty and students are committed to saving the lives of others by improving and ensuring the quality of medical devices. Learning from industry professionals about the future direction of regulations is a critical component. UGA recently wrapped up its 4th annual Medical Device Regulations conference, where those in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries were able to hear from industry professionals about the quality and production of medical devices.

The online Regulatory Affairs program has been a sponsor for the conference since the conference first convened four years ago. “We feel that it is a good opportunity to engage the industry” said Johnna Hodges, the Assistant Director of Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Trials Graduate Education Programs.

The conference covered everything from the concept phases of a medical device all the way through to the marketing phase. A major part of the conference focused on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and what the FDA requires and expects. “The FDA is very receptive to coming to university conferences,” explained Hodges. “The [FDA] can interact with the industry and a lot of industry people appreciate this opportunity to hear directly from the regulators. They can get a sense of what’s coming down the pipeline and they can get a sense of how to interpret current regulations.”

Around 75 people attended the conference, and several online BioPharma Regulatory Affairs alumni attended as well. “About six or seven of our graduates were there. We had a very good speaker, a lawyer from Arnall Golden Gregory named Alan Minsk, and [the online alumni] really appreciated hearing from him on clinical trials and what you do and don’t do in the medical device realm,” said Hodges.