Julio Palmaz, a doctor of vascular radiology born on December 13th, 1945 in La Plata Argentina. He invented an inflatable devise, the balloon expandable stent, which took him over nearly a decade to develop.
What Palmaz created was something that could help reduce heart attacks. One of the causes of heart attacks is clogged arteries which is what Julio Palmaz created his balloon expandable stent for.
Palmaz started working on creating multiple prototypes of his implantable stent. He made this using copper wire and a soldering iron. He modeled the mesh for his stent.
Julio Palmaz went to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He also studied at the National University of La Plata in Argentina earning his medical degree in 1971.
Julio Palmaz created what is one of the most important inventions in modern medicine. Palmaz was inspired in 1978 when he listened to a presentation by Andreas Gruentzig in New Orleans, where he talked about balloon angioplasty.
These stents have become very popular in the last few years. There has been over 1.1 million implanted each year around the world, and used not only in coronary and peripheral arteries but also in organs.
The founder of The Macaroni Grill, Phil Romano offered to put up $250,000 in exchange for a stake in the product. Palmez began co-developing with Dr. Richard Schatz, a cardiologist at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Over the course of his career Palmaz has earned 17 patents and has been honored with a number of awards including the 2002 International Society of Endovascular Surgery Honor Award for Excellence