Fischell receives Discover Magazine's Technology for Humanity award

The 14th Annual Discover Magazine Awards for Innovation in Space Science and Technology named Fischell one of six revolutionaries who changed the world and as an inventor who saved 65,000 lives through his one of his inventions, the implantable cardiac defibrillator.

Fischell's brilliant career includes his experience as an engineer and scientist in the private and government sectors, first at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in space technology. Later, his career interests gradually shifted from space technology to an emphasis on how space technology can be applied to enhance the quality of life through the development of novel medical devices.

A prolific inventor with nearly 200 U.S. and international patents in his name, his work has resulted in a large variety of medical device improvements and new technologies including the first implantable insulin pump, the rechargeable pacemaker and highly stents for placement in coronary arteries.

Today, he is chairman of Fischell Biomedical, LLC and Angel Medical Systems, Inc., and serves a professor of the practice in the Clark School's mechanical engineering department, in addition to his activities as a member of the Clark School Board of Visitors and as a trustee of the University of Maryland, College Park Foundation.

Fischell was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Maryland in 1996, and received his M.S. in physics from the university in 1953. He was awarded his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Duke University in 1951. Fischell is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received numerous awards and recognitions including induction into the Space Technology Hall of Fame, the University of Maryland's 2001 Major F. Riddick Jr. Entrepreneurship Award, and the Clark School's Innovation Hall of Fame 2002 award.

In 2001, Fischell generously donated $1.25 million to the Clark School of Engineering to establish the Fischell Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering that provides a graduate student at the Clark School with the opportunity to create and design new medical devices or systems.

Published November 26, 2003