Julio Palmaz

Julio Palmaz (born December 13, 1945 in La Plata , Argentina ) is an Argentine -American physician who is considered the inventor of the expandable stent .

Palmaz studied medicine at the National University of La Plata with the degree in 1971. Then he was until 1974 to a training in radiology at the University of California, Davis ( Martinez Veterans Administration Medical Center ). From 1974 he worked at the San Martinez University Hospital in La Plata in vascular radiology. From 1983 he was director of angiography (and special procedures ) at the University of Texas Health and Science Center in San Antonio , which he remained until 1999. There he is professor and head of cardiovascular and bioprosthesis research.

After hearing a lecture from Andreas Roland Grüntzig about the balloon catheter in New Orleans in 1978 , he developed a stent that could be expanded using the balloon catheter method and was intended to prevent the arteries from reclosing after balloon catheter treatment. He worked with cardiologist Richard Schatz of Brooke Army Medical Center and was funded by local chain restaurant owner Phil Romano. In 1988 he received a patent and further developed the stent in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson , which invested $ 100 million in the development and paid the trio Palmaz, Schatz and Romano $ 10 million initial licenses. FDA approval for peripheral arteries followed in 1991 and coronary arteries in 1994. In 1998 Johnson & Johnson bought the patent from the inventors.

Palmaz later founded his own company with Romano and Schatz that further developed stent technologies ( Advanced Bio Prosthetic Surfaces ). He holds 17 patents. Palmaz has its own winery in the Napa Valley , California, and owns a collection of Porsche sports cars there. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. For 2019 he was awarded the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize .

Web links

• MIT, Inventor of the Week

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Ammann, Stefan Aust: The Porsche Saga . 1st edition. Quadriga Verlag, Berlin, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-86995-014-3 , pp. 239-242 .