News

Winner Announced for the 2022 Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 21st annual
Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award is:

VersiPD™ Cycler System by Fresenius Medical Care

Please join us to hear directly from the winner on December 12, 2022 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Eastern Time. This special session will include a presentation from this year’s winner on the design and development of the award-winning product. The ceremony is open to all members of HFES and interested members of the general public.

Registration Link

The VersiPD Cycler System, created by Fresenius Medical Care is a peritoneal dialysis (PD) system intended to treat end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the home.

The VersiPD Cycler System is a next-generation PD cycler that provides patients with enhanced ease of use through its touch screen interface and animated instructions, better sleep via quiet operation, and portability with its small, lightweight footprint that enables users to receive benefits of their therapy not only at home, but also when traveling for business, vacation, and visiting family. Clinicians also benefit from the easy-to-use nurse-facing user interface and therapy options uniquely available on the VersiPD.

The Human Factors Engineering lead on the project, Jon Leclerc, told HFES that “Fresenius Medical Care is honored to receive the prestigious Stanley Caplan Award. It is gratifying to see the collaborative effort of our global cross-functional team recognized. However, what is even more gratifying is that this award acknowledges that Fresenius Medical Care accomplished our primary goal of creating a simple-to-use and innovative product that will eventually deliver advanced therapy for our patients around the globe.”

Fresenius Medical Care requested that the $1000 award money be donated to any kidney disease related charitable organization to be selected by HFES. The organization chosen by HFES to receive these funds is the American Kidney Fund.

The award is named after Stanley Caplan, an HFES fellow, for all his efforts and accomplishments over the years at promoting the importance of user-centered design and research within industry while mentoring others to do the same. The Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award is presented each year to individuals and teams that have demonstrated outstanding innovation and design for products, software, and systems in multiple categories. Nominations of consumer, commercial and medical products are eligible, and candidates/teams don’t have to be a member of HFES or PDTG to participate.  Evaluation criteria include ease of operation, creativity and innovation, functional obviousness, concept development, design, and evaluation.

The award selection committee this year was made up of a panel of five judges drawn from the PDTG members. Each one is an experienced practitioner in their respective fields from collective backgrounds aligned with the type of products from the submissions received. The panel included:

  1. Christina Mendat
  2. Christine Henri
  3. David Aurelio
  4. Kathryn Tippey
  5. Paul Eisen

This award is co-chaired by Adam Shames and Kathleen Kremer.

Nominations for the 2023 year are due by April 30, 2023, and can be submitted at www.UCDaward.com.