ASTM Medical Devices and Surgical Materials Committee Names New Chairman

ASTM International Committee F04 on Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices has named William Mihalko, M.D., Ph.D., as its new chairman. Mihalko is professor and J.R. Hyde chair of excellence in biomedical engineering at the Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, Tenn.

Formed in 1962, Committee F04 oversees approximately 300 ASTM standards for medical and surgical materials, orthopedic devices, testing, tissue engineering and medical/surgical instruments. The nearly 1,000 members of F04 serve on 34 subcommittees that cover a variety of related subjects, including osteosynthesis, spinal devices, cardiovascular and neurological standards, plastic and reconstructive surgery, GI applications, urological materials and devices, tissue engineered medical products and others.

A member of ASTM International since 2004, Mihalko also chairs Subcommittee F04.38 on Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgical Devices. He received the Joseph S. Barr Award from the committee in 2011 for outstanding merit and service as a physician member.

Mihalko received a combined M.D./Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., which led him down the path of becoming a surgeon scientist.

Before accepting his current position in 2012, he was a surgeon scientist at the Campbell Clinic and director of orthopedic research at the InMotion Muscoskeletal Research Institute in Memphis, Tenn.

His research during his career, which has included roles as surgeon scientist at the University of Virginia and director of orthopaedic research and the Center for Advanced Technology in Biomedical and Bioengineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has concentrated on biomechanics and surgical technique related factors in patient outcomes after total hip and knee arthroplasty.

A fellow of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Mihalko chairs the AAOS Biomedical Engineering Committee and the AAOS Orthopaedic Device Forum, which gathers various stakeholders to bring safe and effective orthopaedic devices to market. He is also a member of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery International, the International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty, the Knee Society and the Orthopaedic Research Society.

Mihalko has published more than 100 invited and peer-reviewed clinical and basic science manuscripts and has mentored dozens of graduate students and residents during his career. He has received several awards and accolades, including the 2012 and 2013 Award of Merit from AAOS and the American Medical Association Physician’s Recognition Award from 1999 to 2005. The Consumer’s Research Council of America has named Mihalko as one of America’s Top Physicians for several years.

West Conshohocken, Pa.-based ASTM is one of the world’s largest development and delivery systems of standards and related products and services. ASTM standards are accepted and used in research and development, product testing, quality systems and commercial transactions.