LTR 160: IMSC26 Highlights - From Compliance to Proactive MedTech Safety

Summary

“The biggest takeaway was realizing that our perspectives on risk and safety are not isolated. They are shared, validated, and strengthened by others in the field.”

In this special episode of the Let’s Talk Risk! conversation, host Naveen Agarwal brings together a panel of medtech safety and risk management leaders to discuss key takeaways from IMSC26 in Boston.

The conversation highlights why the conference has become a unique gathering place for the medtech safety community: a forum where risk, quality, regulatory, clinical, and engineering professionals can speak a shared language and challenge each other’s thinking.

The panel explores several major themes: moving beyond compliance, bringing patient perspective into risk management, understanding QMSR as a shift toward risk-based quality systems, strengthening judgment and critical thinking, and using AI as a thinking partner rather than a replacement for expertise.

Listen to the full 47-minute podcast or jump to a section of interest listed below.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction and Panel Overview01:23 – Bijan Elahi on the Growth and Vision of IMSC06:23 – Proactive Safety from Clinic to Home08:28 – Patient Safety as the Central Stakeholder Theme10:15 – FDA, QMSR, and the Shift Toward Risk-Based Thinking18:53 – Design Control, Agile Software, and Surgical Robotics22:11 – Hidden Influences, Judgment, and Psychological Safety34:26 – AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement for Expertise40:00 – Career Day, Final Takeaways, and IMSC27 Preview

If you enjoyed this podcast, consider subscribing to the Let’s Talk Risk! newsletter.

Suggested links:

LTR: Tips for Improving Collaboration in Risk Management.

LTR: From Procedures to Judgment - Leading Through QMSR Inspections.