Dean Kamen Photograph courtesy of Biomed.
Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research & Development, Manchester, New Hampshire, can add another prestigious award to his resumé when he accepts BioMed SA’s Julio Palmaz Award for Innovation in Healthcare and the Biosciences. BioMed SA, San Antonio, Texas, is a non-profit corporation founded in 2005 to help grow and promote San Antonio’s healthcare and bioscience sector. The award honors individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to advance the healthcare and bioscience fields. Kamen, who spearheaded the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-sponsored DEKA Arm project and the non-profit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), accepted the award at BioMed SA’s annual Palmaz Award dinner on September 17.
Dubbed the “Dean of Innovation,” Kamen has received numerous other awards for his many, significant innovations in biosciences and engineering, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, awarded in 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton for both having advanced medical care worldwide, and for awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. The medal is the highest honor for technological achievement, bestowed by the President of the United States on America’s leading innovators.
Kamen holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, including the first wearable insulin pump, the iBOT Mobility System wheelchair, the HomeChoice™ portable dialysis machine, the wearable AutoSyringe that delivers accurate doses of medication throughout the day, a low-cost water filter for under-developed countries, the Stirling hybrid automobile engine that also produces electricity, and the Segway™ Human Transporter.
In 2005, Kamen was approached by a Department of Defense official about developing a more functional prosthetic arm for soldiers returning from Iraq with one or both arms missing. “I didn’t expect anything to come of that meeting,” Kamen told Newsweek magazine. “This turned out to be an extraordinary opportunity to do some extraordinary technology.” Called the DEKA Arm or “Luke Arm” after Star Wars character Luke Skywalker, the strap-on, surgery-free arm under development can adapt to various control schemes-from foot pads and pull switches to myoelectrics-to suit patient preferences.
“BioMed SA is proud to honor an innovator who has spent his whole life helping others overcome the challenges in their lives,” said Henry Cisneros, BioMed SA chair and former mayor of San Antonio. “His ongoing work with the U.S. military to develop a robotic arm to restore functionality for wounded warriors is of special interest to San Antonio, which is becoming the home of military medicine.”
Kamen said a greater commitment to education and cultivating a desire to learn among young people is key to the country’s global leadership in the biosciences. “I think we’re entering a golden age in understanding life in terms of genomics, and there are large areas where you’re going to see breathtaking innovations in the next five to 10 years. The innovation coming out of San Antonio will help move us toward that golden age.”
