The cybersecurity veteran joins 24×7’s advisory board as cyber resilience becomes a growing focus for the HTM field.

24×7 Magazine has appointed Phil Englert to its advisory board, where he will serve as the publication’s primary voice on medical device cybersecurity.

Englert is vice president of medical device security at Health-ISAC, where he works with medical device manufacturers to enhance privacy and security and coordinates with health delivery organizations to ensure implementation is practical and achievable. Englert serves as a subject-matter expert and contributor to Health-ISAC’s Medical Device Security Council and also contributes to regulatory and standards efforts, including HSCC, MITA, CISA, AAMI, MDIC, and MITRE.

He brings more than 30 years of technical and operational leadership experience across healthcare and life sciences, including prior roles at MedSec, Deloitte, MDISS, and Catholic Health Initiatives.

“We’re excited to welcome Phil to the advisory board,” says Alyx Arnett, chief editor of 24×7. “He understands how cybersecurity shows up in day-to-day healthcare technology management (HTM) work and how broader policy and standards decisions translate into practical realities, and that perspective will help guide our coverage as cyber resilience becomes a core part of the HTM role.”

HTM’s Role in Cybersecurity

Englert emphasizes that HTM teams play a central role in maintaining cyber resilience—not only by keeping devices operational, but also by understanding how routine maintenance activities can introduce or mitigate cyber risk. “With interconnected devices, every maintenance action has cybersecurity implications,” Englert says.

He points to software patching and updates as one area where HTM’s role is often underestimated. While historically viewed as an IT-driven task, patching medical devices has become a routine maintenance function that requires coordination with clinical operations. “HTM teams play a critical role in validating, scheduling, and applying vendor patches,” he says. “They must take an active role in obtaining and applying patches and updates to ensure updates are timely and do not disrupt essential clinical performance.”

Englert also notes that cybersecurity considerations should begin well before devices are deployed. Involving HTM earlier in procurement decisions can give organizations more leverage to address cyber risk. “Procurement is the point of greatest internal interest and external leverage,” he says. “HTM teams can translate technical threats into clinical risks and develop plans to manage cyber resilience throughout the device’s lifecycle.”

Looking ahead, Englert highlights emerging artificial intelligence-driven threats as an area HTM teams should be monitoring closely. Because HTM professionals sit at the intersection of clinical performance, device lifecycle management, and cybersecurity, he says they are uniquely positioned to anticipate how new threat vectors could affect patient safety and care delivery.

Strengthening 24×7’s Cybersecurity Coverage

As a member of the 24×7 advisory board, Englert will help shape editorial coverage across the magazine’s print and digital platforms, with a particular focus on cybersecurity’s role within everyday HTM operations. 

“Cybersecurity is fundamentally another failure mode: a way medical devices can stop working or function unpredictably,” Englert says. “HTM staff should prepare for failures caused by cyberattacks just as they do for hardware malfunctions, with defined response and recovery plans. Whether a CT scanner’s hard drive fails due to ransomware, a mechanical crash, or logical corruption, the outcome is the same, and HTM teams must be ready to restore the device to safe clinical use.”

The addition of Englert reflects 24×7’s continued focus on providing practical, experience-driven guidance as HTM teams take on expanding responsibilities in medical device security and resilience.

Englert joins a 24×7 advisory board that comprises the following HTM leaders:

  • Matthew F. Baretich, president, Baretich Engineering
  • Roger A. Bowles, professor and department chair, biomedical equipment technology, Texas State Technical College
  • Stephen Grimes, managing partner, Strategic Healthcare Technology Associates
  • Wayne Hibbs, principal, BSA LifeStructures
  • Gordon Hosoda, chief, healthcare technology management, VA Portland Health Care System
  • Clarice M. L. Holden, supervisory biomedical engineer, Dallas VA Medical Center
  • Samantha Jacques, director of clinical engineering, Penn State Health System
  • Paul Kelley, director of biomedical engineering, green initiative, and asset redeployment, Washington Hospital Healthcare System
  • Dennis Minsent, life safety code surveyor, The Joint Commission
  • Ken Olbrish, senior product manager, Arthrex California Technology
  • Jeffrey Ruiz, technology manager, healthcare technologies, Holland Hospital
  • Elliot B. Sloane, assistant professor, Villanova School of Business
  • Arif Subhan, chief biomedical engineer, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
  • Dustin Telford, regional biomedical equipment technician, Bio-Electronics; principal, Healthcare Technology Strategies