For David Eigen, the fight against healthcare-acquired infections is not abstract. It is personal.

When Eigen was 17, his father developed MRSA. A red streak climbing from his ankle toward his knee nearly cost him his life. In his early 20s, Eigen had two similar close calls of his own. Years later, he watched his teenage sons navigate the same threat. The pattern was impossible to ignore—and it ultimately shaped the company he would help lead.

“People see, OK, an infection,” Eigen said. “But we know 100,000 people die every year in healthcare buildings. And the number is actually probably higher.”

Eigen is a leader at Leviant, a UVC disinfection technology company and sponsor of the 2026 ISSA Healthcare Surfaces Summit, taking place May 5–6. The company was originally founded within the Northwell Healthcare system, built around a straightforward but urgent premise: supplemental disinfection was needed in healthcare environments, it needed to fit into existing workflows, and—critically—it needed to be affordable.

That last point drives much of what Leviant does. High-end disinfection technology has existed for years, but broad adoption across healthcare systems of all sizes has remained out of reach for many facilities. Eigen said his focus since joining the company has been closing that gap.

“We have a responsibility to save lives and protect people, and if we’re going to do that, we have to make it affordable to all systems, to all locations,” he said. “Everything we do is about creating access for anyone, everywhere, to safe indoor spaces.”

Leviant’s product line includes the E300 for equipment disinfection and the Space One for room-level UVC treatment. But Eigen is quick to point out that hardware is only part of the equation.

“It’s not just the device—it’s how you use it,” he said. “What is the methodology? How do we track the data?”

That question is precisely what drew Leviant to the Healthcare Surfaces Summit and to its partnership with the Healthcare Surfaces Institute, a division of ISSA. HSI Executive Director Linda Lybert said the alignment was clear from the start.

“They’ve taken the time to truly understand their customers and the different situations they run into,” Lybert said. “Being innovative and being affordable—and truly paying attention to how we save lives — that fits into what we’re all about at HSI and ISSA Healthcare.”

For Eigen, the relationship with HSI is not just a sponsorship—it is infrastructure for innovation. Leviant has a host of new products coming to market over the next year or two, and he said the science-based methodology HSI brings to surface testing and protocol development is foundational to building those products correctly.

“Without what I would call a source of truth of what works, what doesn’t, how it works, how it doesn’t—there’s no way we can innovate,” he said. “We cannot do it without them.”

The 2026 ISSA Healthcare Surfaces Summit is a limited-attendance event, with seating capped at 120 to preserve the networking-focused format that distinguishes it from a traditional conference. It brings together leaders from healthcare, science, and the cleaning industry to address real-world infection prevention challenges—exactly the environment where companies like Leviant are most useful.

“A cleaner hospital is a safer hospital,” Eigen said. “That’s what our focus is.”

The summit runs May 5–6. Registration and details are available here.