Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington                 June 25, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

RELEASE: 02-115

NASA ADMINISTRATOR HONORS MEDICAL PIONEER

     NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today honored the man 
known as the father of modern cardiovascular surgery for his 
work on an innovative heart pump based on technology found in 
the engines that power space shuttles into orbit.

Administrator O'Keefe presented Dr. Michael DeBakey with the 
agency's Commercial Invention of the Year award during a 
ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Dr. DeBakey, who 
is Chancellor Emeritus at Baylor College of Medicine in 
Houston, was honored for his pioneering work on a miniature 
heart pump.

The small ventricular-assist device, known as the VAD, is 
based in part on fuel pumps used in space shuttle main 
engines and is designed to be a bridge for heart patients who 
often are forced to wait months, if not years, for a donor 
organ. The VAD may also be used as a permanent way to help 
strengthen the beat of a weakened heart.

"Dr. DeBakey is a renowned doctor who has changed the face of 
medical science. For more than four decades, he's been a 
distinguished surgeon and a dedicated teacher," said 
Administrator O'Keefe. "His scientific accomplishments and 
his ability to develop pioneering new technologies to better 
life on Earth are considerable. His warmth, compassion and 
dedication symbolize the finest ideals of his medical 
profession."

The concept for the pump began with talks between Dr. DeBakey 
and one of his heart transplant patients David Saucier, a 
NASA engineer. Saucier, who worked at NASA's Johnson Space 
Center in Houston, knew first-hand the urgency heart-failure 
patients feel while waiting for a donor heart. He also knew 
space shuttle technology. 

Six months after his 1984 heart transplant, Saucier was back 
at work and arranged for fellow NASA engineers James 
Akkerman, Bernard Rosenbaum, Gregory Aber and Richard  
Bozeman to meet with Dr. DeBakey and a team at Baylor. The 
result was a remarkable battery-operated pump -- 
approximately three inches long, one inch in diameter and 
weighing less than four ounces -- that may be a lifesaving 
answer to the decades-long quest to develop an implantable 
heart-assist device.

After an intense competition in 1996, NASA granted exclusive 
development rights to MicroMed Technology Inc., Houston. In 
European trials, the MicroMed/DeBakey VAD was implanted in 
115 patients with no incidence of device failure. In the 
United States, more than 20 patients have successfully 
received the device. Trials here will involve nearly 180 
implants.

Also during today's event, Administrator O'Keefe presented 
the Government Invention of the Year award to a team from the 
NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The group of 
talented engineers was honored for developing technology that 
helps ensure the safety of astronauts aboard the 
International Space Station.

The team invented a hollow cathode assembly that is the 
primary component of the International Space Station's plasma 
contactor system. This mission-critical system protects the 
station and its crew from the dangers associated with 
electrical charges.

As the research platform moves through space in low-Earth 
orbit, the surface of the structure builds up a static high-
voltage charge. The plasma contactor system safely grounds 
the station from this high voltage, protecting it from 
arcing, which could severely damage its surface. 

The device is unique in that it reduces the static charge in 
a self-regulating manner and allows astronauts to safely 
conduct spacewalks on and around the structure of the 
International Space Station.

The team of Michael Patterson, Timothy Verhey and George 
Soulas developed the technology from a laboratory device used 
to qualify hardware for flight, and adapted the technology 
for the space station. The team's efforts also resulted in 
increasing the lifetimes of hollow cathodes from 500 hours to 
28,000 hours, enabling use of the cathodes on ion thrusters, 
a key technology used for NASA spacecraft missions such as 
Deep Space 1.

"Building on an extraordinary record of accomplishment, the 
people of NASA continue to develop revolutionary technologies 
needed to understand and protect our home planet and explore 
the universe," added Administrator O'Keefe. "NASA continues 
to pioneer the future and I'm deeply proud of the outstanding 
teamwork and sheer brilliance demonstrated by our people on a 
daily basis."

Additional information about how NASA technology impacts 
everyday life on Earth is available on the Internet at:

http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov/
 
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