352 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine SCIENCES, PHARMACEUTICALS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY ALBERT K. CHIN, MD CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER PercAssist Inc. Santa Clara, CA Growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado, Dr. Albert K. Chin spent his time immersed in music, playing the violin in a local symphony and the organ at his church. Despite his passion, however, he pursued engineering and earned a BS in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975. After obtaining an MS in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, he worked in the aerospace industry in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Chin was later inspired to pursue a career in medicine after a family member completed an internship in internal medicine, which enlightened him about the impact and importance of patient care. He subsequently attended the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, where he achieved an MD in 1983. Several years later, he trained as a resident in surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Parkland Memorial Hospital. Leveraging his prior experience in engineering, Dr. Chin has offered his skills to physicians and surgeons to propose unique solutions to clinical challenges. This proactive approach led him to collaborate with Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, a surgeon at the forefront of cardiovascular research, from 1978 to 1989. Only three weeks into their partnership, Dr. Chin proposed a design that would later result in his first patent. Once his medical studies were complete, he decided not to become a practicing cardiovascular surgeon. After stepping away from his partnership with Dr. Fogarty, he started his first company, Origin Medsystems Inc., which evolved into Guidant Cardiac Surgery in 1994. Though Dr. Chin initially began his journey in design with the aim of gaining admission to medical school, he realized the potential impact his designs could have on the industry at large. While a surgeon can reach thousands of patients through operations, designing innovative medical devices offered an opportunity to influence health care on a global scale. As a result, he dedicated his career to developing devices that can improve medical care for everyone, such as the VasoView and Venapax devices, used in
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjExMDk4NQ==