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Dec 19, 2005 7:25 pm US/Eastern
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University Of Maryland Receives $30 Million Gift
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) ―
The inventor of devices that include modern medical stents commonly used to treat heart ailments will give the University of Maryland $30 million for the study of bioengineering, the university planned to announce Monday.
Robert E. Fischell, who received a master's in physics from Maryland and is a trustee of the school's foundation, and his three sons plan to give the money to the university's A. James Clark School of Engineering. The three sons are making a separate $1 million donation.
The $30 million gift is among the largest received by Maryland -- the university received two other $30 million donations in February from A. James Clark and Robert H. Smith.
Fischell's gift will be used to establish a new department of bioengineering and an institute for biomedical devices, both in the engineering school and each named after him.
"I can't imagine a better use of a person's education and efforts in his lifetime than making devices that will help literally millions of people," Fischell said.
Maryland President C.D. Mote Jr. in a statement that the program "opens a new chapter in the marriage of engineering and medicine with sharp focus on creating devices to enhance the quality of human life."
Fischell holds more than 200 patents and is the creator of devices such as lifetime pacemaker batteries and implantable insulin pumps. Projects his companies are currently working on include an implantable computer that can warn of a heart attack and devices to stop epileptic seizures and migraine headaches.
He has founded more than a half dozen companies since 1969, such as Angel Medical Systems, Inc., which is headed by his son David. Fischell's two other sons, Tim and Scott, also collaborate with their father.
His perhaps most recognized discovery is the medical stent, a small metal or plastic tube that is placed in arteries to prevent them from closing. Stents are commonly used to treat patients with coronary heart disease.
The new undergraduate bioengineering program at Maryland is expected to begin admitting students in the fall of 2006.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)