Ep. 114 Origin Story of the Palmaz Stent with Dr. Julio Palmaz

Dr. Julio Palmaz talks with Dr. Bryan Hartley about where he got the idea for the first commercially-available vascular stent, how he developed it working in his garage, and persevered despite repeated rejections to take it to market. Don't miss this one! --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/biTSNQ --- SHOW NOTES In this episode, Dr. Julio Palmaz joins Dr. Bryan Hartley to discuss the origin story of his invention, the Palmaz Stent. Dr. Palmaz tells us about how he got into IR and the difference between practicing in Argentina and the United States. We discuss how Dr. Palmaz became interested in innovation and how he got started in academia. Dr. Palmaz talks about what inspired him to make the stent and what angioplasty looked like before he started working on the Palmaz Stent. We discuss how he began working on a prototype out of his garage, and we explain some of the challenges he faced in trying to get balloons to test out. We talk about welding and the cross points of the stent, and Dr. Palmaz tells us about the challenges of proposing his ideas to companies. We discuss working with mentors, getting grants and investors, and approaching Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Palmaz shares some of the biggest challenges he faced during his innovation of the Palmaz Stent. He explains his newest projects and what he sees for the future of medical devices.