In Memory of Damien Berg: A Life of Service to Sterile Processing

The Southern California Sterile Processing Association joins sterile processing professionals around the world in mourning the passing of Damien Berg, BA, BS, CRCST, AAMIF.

Damien Berg spent more than three decades serving others through military medicine, hospital sterile processing, professional leadership, advocacy, education, and national and international standards development. His career took him from the department floor to health-system leadership and ultimately to some of the most influential organizations shaping sterile processing practice around the world.

But titles alone do not adequately describe his contribution.

Throughout his career, Damien Berg remained focused on the people performing the work. When he accepted the position of Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for what was then IAHCSMM in 2021, he described his philosophy simply:

“The profession is all about the people.”

That belief followed him throughout his career.

A career that began with service

Damien Berg’s healthcare journey was rooted in military medicine. He trained as a U.S. Army combat medic in 1993, later became a nationally registered paramedic, and served approximately 21 years as a combat medic.

That foundation of service would become a defining thread throughout his professional life.

From sterile processing technician to manager and director, Damien Berg experienced the profession from the inside. His career included roles as an SPD technician, scrub technician, GI technician, manager, director, regional leader, and health-system sterile processing executive.

At Centura Health, he provided leadership and oversight for sterile processing across 16 hospitals in Colorado and Kansas. His work included standardized training, staffing models, equipment and supply standardization, regulatory oversight, electronic quality reporting, and development of a systemwide SPD technician float pool.

Later, with UCHealth, his responsibilities included Northern Colorado sterile processing operations, system sterilization work, training development, regulatory audit programs, and innovative responses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He understood the realities faced by sterile processing professionals because he had lived them.

Leading the profession

Damien Berg’s influence eventually extended far beyond the departments he managed.

He served as president of IAHCSMM in 2018–2019 before the organization became the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association. In July 2021, he joined the association in a strategic leadership role, ultimately serving as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives.

His responsibilities included advancing organizational priorities, developing partnerships, strengthening relationships with chapters and healthcare organizations, engaging with regulatory and standards bodies, and increasing recognition of sterile processing.

When IAHCSMM became HSPA, Damien Berg described the organization as being at the forefront of the profession through certification, advocacy, and education.

Those areas would define much of his own work.

Giving sterile processing a voice in standards

One of Damien Berg’s most enduring contributions was his involvement in standards development.

His work with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation spanned many years and included participation in standards related to steam sterilization, rigid sterilization containers, and quality management systems. He also represented the United States in international standards work through ISO.

For Damien Berg, that work was not abstract. It was an opportunity to bring the perspectives of the people performing the work into the rooms where expectations were being developed.

In a 2022 interview about international standards development, he discussed learning alongside representatives from countries around the world and the challenge of reconciling different approaches to arrive at practices that ultimately support patient safety.

That global collaboration continued throughout his career. He took pride in representing U.S. sterile processing professionals in international work and ensuring that HSPA continued to provide a voice for the profession.

From national leader to global ambassador

Damien Berg also served on the Executive Committee of the World Federation for Hospital Sterilisation Sciences and became a familiar international speaker and representative of the sterile processing community.

He once described himself as an “ambassador” for sterile processing, sharing both U.S. and international perspectives while highlighting the need to invest in the people and departments responsible for safe reprocessing.

It is difficult to find a better description of the role he ultimately played.

He connected frontline professionals with standards developers. He connected local chapters with a national organization. He connected American sterile processing with colleagues around the world. And he worked to connect the often unseen work occurring inside sterile processing departments with its ultimate purpose: safe care for patients.

A champion for the people behind the process

Perhaps Damien Berg’s most important message was also his simplest:

Sterile processing is about people.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he described sterile processing professionals as becoming a “force multiplier” for hospitals as departments responded to shortages, unfamiliar devices, emergency processes, and situations for which existing standards did not always provide immediate answers.

He repeatedly advocated for investment in sterile processing professionals and departments because of their essential role in patient safety.

Even as recently as 2026, Damien Berg continued bringing that practical perspective to national conversations. At HSPA 2026, he joined Amanda Benedict of AAMI and Tiffany Wiksten of The Joint Commission for a landmark discussion about how standards, education, and healthcare surveys work together to strengthen sterile processing and patient safety.

It was representative of the space he occupied so well: standing between standards and practice and helping ensure that each informed the other.

A legacy that continues

The sterile processing profession has lost a leader, advocate, educator, colleague, and friend.

But Damien Berg leaves behind something larger than a list of positions, credentials, standards committees, or conference presentations.

His legacy lives in the profession he helped strengthen.

It can be found in the technicians who see sterile processing as a career rather than simply a job. It is present in leaders who advocate for their departments and their people, in standards that reflect the realities of frontline practice, and in stronger connections among sterile processing professionals around the world.

His legacy can also be seen in a profession increasingly willing to speak with confidence about its essential role in patient safety.

The best way we can honor that legacy is to continue the work:

• To invest in our people.

• To mentor the next generation.

• To participate rather than simply observe.

• To speak up for professionals whose work too often happens outside public view.

• To remember that behind every instrument, every process, and every standard are people serving people.

People serving people

On behalf of the Southern California Sterile Processing Association, we extend our deepest condolences to Damien Berg’s family, friends, colleagues, and the countless sterile processing professionals around the world who had the privilege of knowing him, learning from him, working alongside him, or simply being inspired by him.

Thank you, Damien Berg, for your service to our country, our patients, our professionals, and our profession.

You will be deeply missed.