The medical device trade association AdvaMed has selected the new chair of its board of directors, tapping GE HealthCare’s president and CEO, Peter Arduini.
Arduini will serve a two-year term, effective immediately. He previously served as interim chair, following the departure of outgoing Johnson & Johnson MedTech chief Ashley McEvoy from the top job in late October.
AdvaMed said that Arduini plans to unveil his priorities as chair early next year, but they’re offering a small preview: On the same day as publicizing his election, the organization announced it would form its own medical imaging division.
It will now lobby on behalf of “large and small companies for the essential role of medical imaging technology, radiopharmaceuticals, contrast media and focused ultrasound devices”—all areas where GE HealthCare is a top player, alongside manufacturers such as Bayer, Fujifilm Sonosite, Hologic, Philips and Siemens Healthineers.
“We are in a new era in which providers and patients rely on medical imaging and digital solutions for critical insights across the entire care pathway from screening, diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy delivery, as well as research and discovery,” Arduini said in a statement. “As chair, I look forward to working alongside [AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker] and my colleagues from across the industry to establish AdvaMed’s new imaging division and ensure it is aligned and integrated to our overall goals of the medtech industry.”
The Washington, D.C.-based AdvaMed said it would be the "new home" for federal- and state-level advocacy duties, a slot previously filled by the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, a division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Patrick Hope, who previously served as MITA’s executive director, will now become executive director of AdvaMed’s imaging division.
“Our new home at AdvaMed makes perfect sense: For the first time, we will be surrounded by a team, infrastructure, and resources focused entirely on the patients our companies serve,” Hope said.
In its own statement, NEMA said it would maintain MITA and work to retain all of the organization's industry members.
"For nearly a century, NEMA has proudly served the electrical industry, including the medical imaging industry which was once largely embedded within it," it said. "As has been the case in the past, and will be the case going forward, companies can and continue to be members of both NEMA and AdvaMed."
NEMA said it plans to keep providing MITA members with standardization and market data programs—and that, specifically for PET technologies, it would continue its advocacy work. However, starting January 1, NEMA said it "will scale down its advocacy services on some medical imaging issues, resulting in commensurately reduced resources, including staff."
AdvaMed's expansion into imaging technology follows a similar move in early October when it launched its own digital health division—focused on policy areas such as regulations, reimbursement, data privacy and cybersecurity.
Both imaging and digital health will be led by their own mini-boards of directors composed of industry executives; AdvaMed members selected GE HealthCare’s chief technology officer, Taha Kass-Hout, to serve as the inaugural chair of the latter.
“From traditional medical devices to digital health tech to AI and medical imaging, the opportunity to unify the industry and advance policy solutions for the health care system has never been better,” Whitaker said.
“Finally, the timing of Peter Arduini’s election as our new chair couldn’t be better,” he added. “His leadership of GE HealthCare, a global leader in medical imaging, pharmaceutical diagnostics and digital solutions, will provide strategic insight and direction to AdvaMed as we work to ensure an aligned and inclusive focus across companies in every sector of medtech.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from NEMA and MITA.