Rodney Perkins

Rodney Perkins (b. 1936), a physician and entrepreneur, is Professor of Surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine.^[1]

Biography

Born in 1936, Perkins grew up in Evansville, Indiana.^[2] He attended Indiana University, initially enrolling as a dental student, but changed in his first year to pre-med, and then continued his studies at Indiana University School of Medicine. In his fourth year, as he was learning surgical procedures, he designed a medical device that cooled the blood prior to cardiac surgery that won first place in the AMA’s Medical Student Research Competition.^[3][4] He graduated in 1961.

Academic career

Perkins moved to San Francisco in 1962 and one year later entered a surgical residency at Stanford University.^[3] In 1968 he started his own practice adjacent to the Stanford campus.^[5] This ultimately became the California Ear Institute at Stanford.^[6] Perkins’ long tenure at Stanford was also celebrated with the dedication of the Rodney Perkins Microsurgery Laboratory in 2008.^[7]

Business activities

Perkins’ research and career as an entrepreneur has mainly focused on the field of otology. He is the founder of the California Ear Institute at Stanford and a founder or cofounder of Soundhawk, Collagen Corporation,^[8] Laserscope,^[9] ReSound, Novacept, Pulmonx,^[10] Sound ID,^[11] EarLens,^[12] and DFine Inc.^[13][14] Three of these companies have been taken public.^[15][16][17]

Perkins is the founder of three public companies: Collagen Corporation (collagen-based implant materials),^[3] Laserscope (surgical lasers),^[9] and ReSound Corporation (high tech signal processing hearing devices).^[17] He is also the founder and Chairman of Novacept (women's health), sold to Cytyc Corporation,^[18] Sound ID (hearing science),^[19] Pulmonx (interventional pulmonology and emphysema treatment),^[20] and was Chairman of Surgrx (electrosurgical instrumentation), which was sold to Ethicon Endo-Surgery,^[21] a division of Johnson & Johnson,^[22] in 2008.

Currently, Perkins is founder, Chairman and CMO of Earlens Corporation, which is developing what it hopes will be a new method of sound transduction for hearing improvement.^[23] Perkins is co-founder and Chairman of Procept,^[24] a company developing a biorobotic minimally invasive solution for benign prostatic hypertrophy.^[25]

Recognition

Perkins received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Medical Futures,^[2] a British organization that fosters innovation in medicine. He also received the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from Indiana University and was inducted into the Evansville Hall of Fame.^[26]

References