Dr. Chris Druzgalski, Ph.D.

Professor and Biomedical & Clinical Engineering Program Director Department of Electrical Engineering, California State University, Long Beach
 

The needs and trends in BME with focus on integrated medical device design

The medical device industry, with reported annual sales of $57 billion, became bigger than the steel industry, and continues to be one of the most dynamic sectors of U.S. high technology enterprise. The current trends in health care delivery systems, which encompass medical device enterprise, embrace a reduction of hospital labor costs, increase in outpatient surgical procedures and progressive home health care including self-diagnosis and self-therapy, in addition to automated diagnosis as well as innovative imaging techniques, health care information systems, and they define new developments and research activities. Within this broad spectrum of engineering activities, the presentation will focus on an integrated medical device design. The impediments of a medical device design are often set by technical limitations of fundamental components comprising a given device. As capacitors, in addition to batteries, set the limits of implantable defibrillators, one third of pacemakers are replaced due limits set by the batteries. The biosensors' capabilities define the spectrum and modalities of detected or continuously monitored physiological parameters. Hearing aid devices' performance is often defined by DSP circuitry, and sufficiently strong magnets allowing physical coupling between internal and external parts of the unit. Therefore, the status and needs of a component through system level design in selected medical applications will be reviewed including the role of related IEEE activities.

Biography

Dr. Christopher Druzgalski is a Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering at the California State University. His educational background includes MSEE, MSBME, Ph.D. degrees and his work experience incorporates positions as a project engineer and a technical consultant in the industry, in Europe and the United States. He received a Fulbright Award to lecture in Brazil, as well as lectured and served as a consultant in China, Egypt, Honduras, Panama, and other countries. His current research work includes bioacoustics, sensors and data acquisition systems, telemedicine, and Internet for medical and industrial applications. He is the President of the Association of California State University Professors - a statewide organization, and the Chair of IEEE LAC EMB (Engineering in Medicine and Biology). Also, he is a senior member of IEEE and is involved in a number of other organizations.