By Liz Stevens, writer, UV Solutions

Troy Cowan, founder and coordinator of the IUVA Healthcare Working Group, was named the recipient of the 2025 IUVA Lifetime Achievement Award. IUVA recognizes Cowan’s contributions to the UV industry as a visionary leader and advocate for public health. In founding the IUVA Healthcare Working Group, he built a coalition that advances UV technology and its role in patient safety protection. A leader with strategic insight, he has shaped the direction of the field and the community within it. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Cowan’s extraordinary impact, enduring legacy and his selfless mantra: “It’s all about saving lives…”

Early career

Cowan earned degrees in industrial engineering from New Mexico State University and then landed a job with the US Department of Energy, where he remained for 17 years. Cowan began in contract compliance reviews related to facilities maintenance management. “I became very familiar with contract compliance audit protocols and typical managerial responses,” he said, “I then moved into property management and fleet vehicle management.” He became the Facilities and Program Planning Branch chief.

Although the DOE was not engaged in work involving ultraviolet energy at that time, Cowan did deal with ionizing radiation considerations. “Through that exposure,” said Cowan, “the concept of ‘safe exposure limits’ based on scientific experimentation was ingrained into my psyche. I mainly dealt with nuclear waste management and disposal issues, and the regulatory requirements and budgeting to consider when developing a program. Safety had to be built in, for the workers and the public.”

Cowan’s in-depth expertise around DOE regulations and compliance, and his knowledge of the operations and sites that generated nuclear waste, led him to a position at engineering design firm MACTEC. “I managed development and issuance of DOE/EM’s draft Roadmap Guidance for the National Transuranic Waste Management Program,” said Cowan, “and contributed to the DOE Transuranic (TRU) Waste Management Project Plan.” He also formed and coordinated a working group to improve the data used to manage the program.

Interest in UV disinfection

Cowan became interested in UV energy for healthcare disinfection through helping a friend whose client, George Lichtblau, had a marketing problem related to his whole room surface disinfection units. “Lichtblau had designed what he believed to be a better, cheaper disinfection unit,” said Cowan, “but he couldn’t make inroads into the market because he was being ‘out-marketed’ by others selling similar units.” The others, however, were using exaggerated, sometimes unattainable claims. “Lichtblau knew he had a regulatory problem, and my friend and I were experts in regulatory issues. We went to work to identify the regulatory performance standards for this product. We researched the federal regulations and found there were no standards.”

Cowan and his partner visited Congress for several months, trying to get a basic performance standard inserted into law, but they got no support. “We realized that this was an industry problem, not a legislative one,” he said. “In our regulatory research, however, we found that if an industry adopted a standard under the Office of Management and Budget’s rules covering voluntary consensus standards, that standard would be used by federal regulators, in place of official regulations. We set out to find who represented the UV industry, and we discovered the International Ultraviolet Association.”

Engaging with IUVA

That was the start of Cowan’s involvement with IUVA. “We were looking for the association that best represented the UV industry, as the entity that would be most interested and supportive of UV performance standards,” Cowan said. “There was only one association dedicated to UV germicidal efforts, and that was IUVA.”

Cowan explained that without standards, there is no baseline for a credible understanding of a disinfection unit’s capabilities or for objective comparisons of units. “Having an industry-accepted standard provides that baseline,” he said. “This led to the first panel discussion of UV to combat healthcare acquired infections at the 2016 IUVA Americas Conference in Austin, followed by a second panel at 2018 IUVA Americas at Redondo Beach, resulting in the formation of our working group.”

Cowan recounted the most challenging standard-creation project that he facilitated with the IUVA Healthcare Working Group – the formation of the working group itself. “At the 2018 IUVA Americas conference, we staged a panel of experts on UV disinfection technologies and benefits,” he said. “At the end of the panel discussion, the suggestion was made that we explore setting up a group to explore the topic in more detail.” About 15 attendees gathered to discuss the options – with no agenda and no guidance, just a blank slate.

“At the end of the session,” Cowan said, “we had formed the Healthcare/HAI Working Group to promote use of UV-C to help prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).” The group’s first action was producing a workshop at the Yale School of Medicine, hosted by Richard Martinello, MD (Yale School of Medicine), co-founder of the Working Group. “Overall, the Group has involved over 130 IUVA members, in at least five major workshops. It has generated peer-reviewed publications and almost a dozen ANSI accredited standards.”

Reflection

UV Solutions asked Cowan which standard-creation project was the most rewarding for him. “For a standards-creation project, hands-down,” he said, “it was ANSI/IES/IUVA LM-92-22, ‘Approved Method: Optical and Electrical Measurement of Ultraviolet LEDs’, led by Dr. Cameron Miller (NIST).” This project required finding an organization to partner with, one that was already an OMB-approved SDO (Standards Development Organization). “The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) fit the bill and agreed to join with us,” Cowan explained. “We negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between IUVA and IES, approved by both boards and signed by the executive directors. This was IUVA’s first MOU and still is producing standards. It was the first time that IUVA appeared in the name of a fully accredited ANSI standard.”

The most rewarding overall project for Cowan was the January 2020 Joint IUVA/NIST Conference, “Ultraviolet Disinfection Technologies & Healthcare Associated Infections: Defining Standards and Metrology Needs: Workshop Follow Up.” “It was a two- and one-half-day conference held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Germantown Headquarters, planned and hosted by Dr. Dianne Poster (NIST),” said Cowan, “with about 150 attendees. The workshop was opened by Dr. Walter Copan, NIST Director. This workshop resulted in a publication in the NIST “Journal of Research” (Volume 126, 2021; ISSN: 2165-7254), with 18 peer-reviewed papers. One of those papers has been cited over 5,000 times in other publications.

IUVA salutes Troy Cowan for sharing his knowledge, expertise, time and energy with the Healthcare Working Group. Gary Cohen, IUVA executive director, applauded Cowan’s contributions to the Association. “Troy is a mentor, educator and leader for so many of us at IUVA,” Cohen said. “He has selflessly built the foundation for our technology to develop impactful public health solutions – cultivating new partnerships and creative approaches – all with the single-minded determination to save lives with UV technology.”

Ever humble, Cowan had a thank you of his own. “None of this would have been possible without the steady, strong and unwavering support of Gary Cohen,” Cowan said. “He has helped me negotiate the ins and outs of doing business and of getting approvals within the IUVA itself. He worked miracles, repeatedly. Many thanks, Gary.” 

Note from UV Solutions: In his role with the IUVA Healthcare Working Group, Troy Cowan has submitted a quarterly column to the magazine for many years. Thank you, Troy, for sharing your knowledge with our readers.