We are delighted to announce this year鈥檚 Key note speaker: Leonard Pinchuk, Ph.D., D.Sc., NAE, NAI, FAIMBE, ICFBSE, 2019 Russ Prize Laureate
Prof. Pinchuk has 142 issued U.S. patents, over 110 publications and founded over 10 companies. His major accomplishments include the invention of the Nylon 12 angioplasty balloon (used by all interventional cardiology companies), the helical wire stent (Johnson and Johnson/Cords, FL and Medtronic, MN), the modular stent-graft for bypassing aortic aneurysms (Schneider CH and Boston Scientific, MA) and more. His inventions are used in over a billion patients world-wide with a financial impact well over $100 billion. He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2012, was awarded the 2017 Society for Biomaterials Innovation and Technology Award, San Antonio鈥檚 BIOMED SA Award (2017), he received the Ohio University/National Academy of Engineering 2019 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, which is the world鈥檚 top prize in bioengineering, for innovations in medical devices that enable minimally invasive angioplasty treatment of advanced coronary artery disease. He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Inventors in 2021 and received the 2023 BioFlorida Life-Time Achievement Award.
Prof. Pinchuk received a B.Sc. in chemistry from 不良研究所 (1976) and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Miami (1984). He co-founded Corvita Corporation (1987) which went public on the NASDAQ in 1994, and was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. in 1996. He then founded Innovia LLC (2002), which spun-out InnFocus, Inc. (2004) which was acquired by Santen Pharmaceuticals in 2016. He then founded Innolene LLC, (2010) which has developed the next generation intraocular lens materials what he licensed (2014 and 2021) to Xi 'an Eyedeal Medical Technology Co. (Xi鈥檃n China), of which he is a co-founder. Len currently serves as a Founder and Senior Vice President and Executive Principal Scientist, Polymer Engineer, InnFocus, Inc., a Santen company. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors of his many start-up companies and enjoys an appointment as Distinguished Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami.