Program & Agenda

General Session

6:15 – 7:00 AM
Optional: Exercise Event

7:30 – 8:30 AM
Registration, Networking, & Breakfast (Topaz Lobby)

8:30 – 8:45 AM
Day One Kickoff & Opening Remarks

8:45 – 9:00 AM
Keynote Opening, Paul Nowak

9:00 – 9:45 AM
The Intersection of Climate Change, Healthcare, and Packaging: Accelerating Industry Action for Patients and the Planet, Cristina Indiveri, MS, Erika Kimball RN, MBA, and Paul Nowak (moderator)

9:45 – 10:00 AM
Break

10:00 – 11:30 AM
Innovation Hour: The Innovation Hour will be a fast-paced session of TED-style talks highlighting collaborative research and new technology to address the industry’s most pressing challenges and needs. Whether developing and adopting novel innovations or applying proven solutions in new ways or from tangential spaces, this session of researchers, innovators, and users will inform and deliver quantifiable impacts to be gained by leaning into challenging the status quo.

• Innovation Hour Intro
• Answering the FDA Ethylene Oxide (EtO) Sterilization Innovation Challenge, Megan Frost, PhD and Kurt Yockey
• Progression of Digital Print in Healthcare Packaging, Rachel Ma, PhD, Haley Schrauben, and Dina Vees
• Bringing Industry and Technology Together with Academia, Matt Daum, PhD, and Matthew Wright
• Q&A with Speakers

11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Lunch A

12:15 – 1:00 PM
Lunch B

1:00 – 1:20 PM
Packaging – It’s More Than Meets the Eye: Putting the “Ability” Back in Usability, Arti Roth, PhD and Amy Stewart

1:20 – 2:00 PM
Can your Package “Take a Licking” and “Keep On Ticking”? How to Tackle Human Nature and Mother Nature with Robust Package Design, Brian Farison

2:00 – 2:45 PM
Building Partnerships to Navigate Unprecedented Times: A Conversation with Supply Chain and Packaging Peers, Dennis Sullivan, Curtis Rose, Eric Pearson, and Karen Polkinghorne (moderator)

2:45 – 3:15 PM
Networking break

3:15 – 4:35 PM
Industry Power Hour

• MSU School of Packaging: Medical Packaging Center of Excellence: Matt Daum, PhD
• AAMI Technical Committee 198, Working Group: Jen Benolken  
• ASTM F02 Primary Barrier Packaging Committee: Henk Blom, PhD
• HPRC (Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council): Peylina Chu, PE
• IoPP MDPTC (Medical Device Packaging Technical Committee): David DiVaccaro and Tyler Boyd
• KiiP (Kilmer Innovations in Packaging): Hanna Harris
• SPMC (Sterilization Packaging Manufacturers Council): Dhuanne Dodrill
• Industry Call to Action: Henk Blom, PhD and Austin Liu

4:35 – 5:00 PM
Industry Recognition

5:45 – 8:00 PM
Networking Reception @ P6 Rooftop Restaurant

Appetizers and Open Bar Provided.

General Session until 10 am

6:15 – 7:00 AM
Optional: Exercise Event

 

7:30 – 8:30 AM
Networking &  Breakfast (Topaz Lobby)

 

8:30 – 8:40 AM
Day Two Kickoff

 

8:40 – 10:00 AM

General Session Theme: Leveraging Advanced Recycling Technologies for Sustainably-Sourced Medical Packaging Materials

• Unlocking the Potential of Advanced Recycling: Today’s Technology Landscape and Opportunities for Medical Packaging, Katherine Hofmann, PhD and Zack Patterson
• Catalyzing Circularity: A Case Study in Adopting Certified Advanced Recycled Materials for Medical Packaging, Cliff Labbe and Rod Patch
• Creating a Business Case for Advanced Recycled Materials: Critical Questions from the MDM Perspective – A KiiP Collaboration, Deepa Rampura and Anna Thomas

 

10:00 – 10:30 AM
Networking Break

 

Breakout Tracks

10:30 – 11:00 AM

Foundational Track:  Using Damage Boundary Theory as a Tool for Sustainability, Nora Crivello

Tenured Track:  Reducing Sealing Variability and Increasing Process Capability, Lynne Barton and Ben White

 

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Foundational Track: Wicked Stability: Project Progress and Workstream Updates, Nancy Battaglini, Jen Benolken, Henk Blom, PhD, and Rod Patch

Tenured Track: Shifting the Integrity Testing Paradigm for Medical Device Packaging, Rob Zecchin 

 

11:30 – 12:15 PM
Lunch A

 

12:15 – 1:00 PM
Lunch B

 

1:00 – 1:30 PM

Foundational Track: Building a Plane While Flying is Not Easy – Learn How ASTM is Developing a Guide to Help the Industry Meet or Exceed Requirements of ISO 11607 Section 7, Broc Couling, Arti Roth, PhD, and Matt TerBush

Tenured Track: Not Concerned about the Regulation Landscape for Materials of Concern? You Should Be!, Alex Bowman and Haley Gorr, PhD

 

1:35 – 2:45 PM

Foundational Track Theme: Medical Packaging Recycling: Making it a Reality

• End of Life Journey of Medical Packaging: What You Should Know as a Packaging Engineer, Jamie Pero-Parker, PhD, Samantha Smith, and Keith Weitz
• Sterile Packaging Recycling Pilots: A Journey to Circularity, Nick Packet

 

Tenured Track Theme: User-Centered Packaging: Beyond a Container

• Human Factors Engineering: How to Incorporate Usability Principles and Practices to Packaging Design to Create Safe and Effective Product-Packaging Systems for Your Users, David Grosse-Wentrup, Dipl. Ing.
• Connected Combination Products Elevate User Experience, Mathias Romacker and Lisa Pierce

 

2:45 – 3:15 PM
Networking Break

 

3:15 – 3:45 PM

Foundational Track: Human Sustainability Through Connection and Vulnerability, Hanna Harris, Chris Kelley, Austin Liu, Seema Momin, and Jen Benolken (moderator)

Tenured Track: Medical Packaging From the Patient’s Perspective, Michael Johnston

 

3:50 – 4:55 PM

Foundational Track Theme: The Sustainable Packaging Journey: MedTech Perspectives

Packaging serves a critical role in protecting life-saving medical devices and maintaining sterility until the point-of-use. While these functions cannot be compromised, the demand for more sustainable healthcare packaging solutions is increasing. Whether your company has defined sustainability goals or you are just beginning the journey, it can be difficult to know where to start. How are medical device manufacturers challenging the status quo to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare packaging? In this session of TED-style Talks, we will hear from stakeholders at the intersection of packaging and sustainability as they share insights from their organization’s sustainable packaging journeys.

•  Session Intro, Paul Nowak
•   Packaging Groundhog Day: How Do We Challenge the Status Quo?, Nancy Battaglini, Haley Gorr, PhD, and Josh Bursack 
•  Q&A with Speakers, Moderator: Paul Nowak

Tenured Track Theme: The Path from Distribution to Validation

In this session, we will hear TED-style Talks that represent various phases of package validation. We will start with defining your distribution channels in order to design a proper validation plan. Taking that information, we will dive into how to choose protocols that satisfy both the distribution challenges and intricacies of ISO 11607. Wrapping up, we’ll challenge the status quo and discuss the possibility of leveraging validations for like-packaging. We will wrap up the hour with Q&A before testing your knowledge with a lightning round of trivia!

•  Session Intro, Nora Crivello
•  What is SBS Package Performance Testing 1, 2, 3 …, Jan Gates
•  Comparing Impact of Distribution Hazards on Similar Packaging Systems – Adopting Bracketing Approaches to Meet Compliance, Seema Momin
• Q&A with Speakers, Moderator: Nora Crivello
•  Distribution to Validation Trivia: Nora Crivello

6:00 – 9:00 PM
the[PACK]out Takes the Mic @ Speakeasy

Heavy Appetizers are provided with a cash bar. 

6:15 – 7:00 AM
Optional: Exercise Event

7:30 – 8:30 AM

Networking & Breakfast (Topaz Lobby)

8:30 – 8:45 AM
Introduction to Day Three Workshop

8:45 – 11:20 AM
TBA

11:20 AM – 12:00 PM
Live Q&A | Closing Remarks