Aaron V. Kaplan, MD, professor of Medicine and of Community and Family Medicine at Geisel School of Medicine and an interventional cardiologist at the Heart & Vascular Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, has been named a 2015 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Election to NAI Fellow status is a professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.
The 168 NAI Fellows named today bring the total number to 582, representing more than 190 prestigious research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions. The 2015 Fellows account for more than 5,300 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 20,000. These academic luminaries have made a significant impact to the economy through innovative discoveries, creating startup companies, and enhancing the culture of academic invention.
Dr. Kaplan, who joined the Dartmouth faculty in 2002, serves as director of Clinical Research in Cardiovascular Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. In addition to his clinical responsibilities in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, he supervises fellows and lectures regularly at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
Dr. Kaplan is an active medical device entrepreneur who has authored more than 45 U.S. patents. He has been on the founding team of a number of venture-backed medical device companies, including Tryton Medical, LocalMed and Perclose (acquired by Abbott). In addition, Dr. Kaplan has consulted to many medical device companies and was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Three Arch Partners. Currently, he focuses his device development efforts on Tryton Medical, Inc., a company he founded to develop a side branch specific stent.
In 2003, Dr. Kaplan founded The Dartmouth Device Symposia (3D)—which brings together thought leaders from the clinical, business, governmental/regulatory, financial, and legal communities—to provide a forum to examine issues central to the clinical development and commercialization of medical devices. Papers emanating from the 3D Symposia have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Circulation, The journal of the American College of Cardiology, Health Affairs, and Cardiac Catheterization and Intervention.
The NAI Fellows will be inducted on April 15, 2016, as part of the Fifth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Va. USPTO Commissioner for Patents Andrew Hirshfeld will provide the keynote address for the induction ceremony.
The 2015 NAI Fellows Selection Committee included 17 members, comprising NAI Fellows, recipients of U.S. National Medals, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, members of the National Academies and senior officials from the USPTO, Association of American Universities, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of University Technology Managers, and National Inventors Hall of Fame.
About the National Academy of Inventors®
The National Academy of Inventors® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization comprised of U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutions, with over 3,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 200 institutions, and growing rapidly. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI edits the multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation, published by Cognizant Communication Corporation (NY).
About the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, health care policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America’s leading medical schools, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in health care.
