UV Solutions

Innovations for Industry, Public Health & the Environment

Personal Appeal for Participation in the IUVA Healthcare Working Group

By Lew Radonovich, M.D., IUVA

In the last issue of UV Solutions, 1 Rick Martinello, M.D., and I sounded an action call to industry, academe and government to answer key outstanding questions about the utilization of UV applications in the healthcare sector. 1 In this issue, I would like to make a more personalized appeal for participation in the IUVA Healthcare Working Group. 2  Troy Cowan, who shepherded the Working Group through the COVID-19 pandemic, turned over leadership of the group to me in November of 2025. Since then, we have focused on important clinical activities, including ongoing or planned clinical trials. 

My colleagues and I at IUVA envision the Healthcare Working Group to be a uniquely positioned forum that is:

  • focused on clinical research, standards, regulations and applications;
  • driven by science that utilizes human outcomes, meaning study endpoints involving human research participants;
  • aware of and responsive to current events and emerging technologies, including pre-clinical and clinical phases of development;
  • inclusive of industry, academia and government;
  • respectful, fair, unbiased and impartial; and
  • adherent to the IUVA anti-trust stipulations.

Purpose and Functions of the Working Group

In addition to updates on clinical science, it is important to revisit the purpose and essential functions of the Working Group.  Based on discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, IUVA has revised the stated purpose of the Healthcare Working Group 2 to provide an international forum for information exchange about the use of germicidal ultraviolet radiant energy (GUV) in healthcare delivery. The group is developing a forum for members to exchange information about the clinical application of GUV.  Key topics expected to be discussed include the following: 

  • ways GUV is being utilized to safely reduce the burden of potentially infectious human pathogens; 
  • new and emerging GUV pre-clinical, clinical and technological developments in infection prevention and control; 
  • highlights from recent conferences, meetings, seminars and other educational venues and future opportunities to engage with stakeholders;
  • clinical implications of evolving policies, practices, standards and regulations, including recently changed or newly proposed changes and opportunities for advocacy; and  
  • appraisal and discussion of new scientific and technical publications with an emphasis on field studies and clinical trials. 

Recent Topics Addressed by the Working Group

To get a sense of recent discussions, the following is a concise overview of meeting topics during the 2026 calendar year:

  • In January, Ben Robertson 3 from XCMR 4 shared results of the company’s surgical site infection research, including pre-clinical benchtop and mouse model results, handheld prototype device development, technical specifications and safety assessments, and plans for future studies.
  • In February, Lindsay Saber 5 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 6, presented a planned randomized control trial designed to study the implementation of Far UV-C lamps in two Bolivian hospitals to reduce ESKAPEE pathogens around sinks.
  • In March, Ed Nardell 7 from Harvard University 8 shared interim results from a study at a clinical research facility in South Africa examining the effectiveness of Far UV against tuberculosis transmission from humans with newly diagnosed active tuberculosis to guinea pigs as test subjects. The presentation included detailed discussions of methodology, dosimetry results and safety considerations, with questions from attendees regarding statistical corrections, dose-response models and ethical approvals for similar studies.
  • In April, Pablo Fredes 9 with Universidad de Santiago de Chile 10 and Hydraluvx Spa 11 shared his perspective about navigating the regulatory environment in Chile by strategically framing UV disinfection as an “environmental photonic service” and some of the group’s work to further develop and utilize LED technologies. Various potential advocacy roles for the Working Group also were discussed, including working alongside EPA, FDA and ASHRAE.

Future Activities of the Working Group

During meetings in the near term, the group plans to have detailed discussions about important operational functions of the Working Group, such as:

  • drafting of a charter to formalize our activities;
  • identification of deliverables, including the possibility of joint grant writing activities or jointly authored publications; and
  • types of advocacy to consider, including policy and regulatory activities.

We hope to have your input 12 on these and other topics as they emerge. I hope you will join us! 

Note from the author: I would like to thank Troy Cowan, Rick Martinello, Peter Gordon, Chip Blatchley, Gary Cohen and the many others who have supported me and for the unique opportunity to lead the IUVA Healthcare Working Group.

References

  1. UV Solutions. (2026). UV Solutions: 2026 quarter 1. Bluetoad. https://bluetoad.com/publication/?i=862232&p=1&view=issueViewer
  2. https://www.iuva.org/healthcare-hai-task-force
  3. https://xcmr.co/about-robertson/
  4. https://xcmr.co/
  5. https://waterinstitute.unc.edu/team/saber-lindsay
  6. https://waterinstitute.unc.edu/
  7. https://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/edward-anthony-nardell
  8. https://ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/
  9. https://piers.org/profile.html?uid=at2506300353092
  10. https://dimec.usach.cl/
  11. https://www.hydraluvx.com/
  12. https://mailchi.mp/iuva.org/iuva-healthcare-wg-signup