ASTM International has presented Howard Freese, manager of business development – biomedical at ATI Allvac in Monroe, N.C., with the ASTM International Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow.  The Award of Merit is the highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to ASTM standards activities.

Freese was cited “for dynamic and outstanding leadership in fostering the development and promulgation of surgical implant standards in ASTM Committee F04 for Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices.”

A member of ASTM International since 1989, Freese is vice chair of Committee F04 and participates in several F04 subcommittees and groups.  He has contributed to the development of multiple F04 standards that cover refractory metals in medical devices.  Committee F04 has honored Freese for his contributions over the years with the Robert Fairer (M.O.S.E.S.) Award in 1995, the Leroy Wyman Award in 2000 and the Patrick Laing Award in 2004.  In addition to his work on F04, he also serves on Committee B10 on Reactive and Refractory Metals and Alloys.

After holding various engineering and marketing and management positions at Corning Glass (now Corning Inc.) and Luwa/Pneumafil (now LCI Corp.), Freese joined the staff at ATI Allvac as marketing manager in 1988.  In his current role, which he assumed in 1991, he is responsible for the international marketing of implantable metallic biomaterials for the biomedical implant industry and also manages general marketing/communications duties for the company. 

A registered professional engineer in the state of North Carolina, Freese is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Society for Biomaterials.  He has been the author or co-author of ten technical papers on chemical processing and radwaste management and four papers on implantable metallic biomaterials, and he served as co-editor of ASTM STP 1471, Titanium, Niobium, Zirconium and Tantalum for Medical and Surgical Applications.

Freese received a B.S. in chemical engineering and chemistry from Columbia University, New York, N.Y., and he holds an M.B.A. from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

Release #8192