Thomas J. Fogarty

Thomas James Fogarty

Early life and education Fogarty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 25, 1934, into an Irish-Catholic family. His father worked as a railroad engineer, but died when Fogarty was eight years old.

Fogarty cited his father's absence as being influential in his own creative nature as an inventor. Fogarty fixed things that needed to be fixed for his mother, and he worked with soapbox derby cars and model airplanes. He recalled, "I just had a natural inclination and inquisitive nature about building things. I looked at things and just naturally thought, 'Okay, how can I make this better? His business side was evident in childhood as well. The model airplanes that he built were sold to neighborhood kids. When he became frustrated with motor scooter gears, he built and sold a centrifugal clutch.

Fogarty was not a good student; his original career goal was to be a boxer. He recalled, "I wasn't a very good kid. They sent me to a camp to keep me out of trouble. One of the routine activities was boxing."

To help his family get by in the late 1940s, Fogarty started working at Good Samaritan Hospital, beginning with cleaning medical equipment while he was in the eighth grade at school. He continued working during his high school summer vacations and was soon promoted to scrub technician, a person who handed medical instruments to surgeons – he witnessed his first surgery at a young age. It was during this time that he first met Dr. Jack Cranley, who would have a major influence on Fogarty's future career.

During his last year of high school, Fogarty discovered that he wanted to be a doctor. At the age of 17, he quit his boxing career after he broke his nose in a match that ended in a draw. A family priest gave him a recommendation, and because of his awful grades, he was admitted to Cincinnati's Xavier University on probation. Before Fogarty's invention, surgeons had to use forceps to remove the blood clots only after a huge part of an artery had been cut open, and the patient would be under general anesthesia for hours. Blood flow is usually interrupted in the procedure, increasing the risk of the patient losing a limb.

At home, the ideas that went through Fogarty's head concerned different ways of making the procedure better, and he especially concentrated on avoiding the risky incisions. He tinkered with a urethral catheter and a balloon in his attic. Because a catheter required only a small incision, it would be able to get to the clot without much trauma to the patient. The urethral catheter is also flexible yet strong enough to be pushed through a blood clot. As for the balloon, he basically cut off the tip of the pinky finger of a size 5 surgical latex glove and attempted to incorporate it onto the end of the catheter.

Other inventions Numerous sequel applications of Fogarty's catheter came about. The first balloon angioplasty, for example, was performed with a Fogarty catheter in 1965, and has led to over six hundred fifty thousand such operations per year. Fogarty has also modified his catheter to less invasive biopsy techniques.

After completing his residency and becoming a cardiovascular surgeon, Fogarty continued to invent new medical devices. One of his most successful products is the Stent-Graft, which dealt with the difficult problem of abdominal aortic aneurysms (a term referring to a weakened blood vessel). The old method was to remove the bad part of a weakened blood vessel, but Fogarty's idea was to support it with an implant. He used a stent, a thin polyester tube that grabs onto the blood vessels. A catheter transports the stent to the weakened blood vessel, and once the balloon is inflated, the stent expands to the size of the blood vessel, and blood flows normally.

Fogarty's other inventions include Fogarty surgical clips and clamps, which are used by cardiac and vascular surgeons to temporarily occlude (close down) blood vessels during surgery. Working with Warren Hancock, he is co-inventor of the Hancock tissue heart valve – the world's first porcine valve. the National Medal for Technology and Innovation in 2012; He published around 180 scientific articles and textbook chapters in the fields of general and cardiovascular surgery. He served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery from 1995 to 1996.

Innovation and entrepreneurship Fogarty founded Fogarty Engineering, Inc. in 1980, to promote ideas for new medical devices, and has founded/co-founded and chaired the board for many business and research companies based on devices developed at the company.

As a pioneer and supporter of innovation in medical technology, Fogarty acquired over 190 patents for his medical work. He was associated with numerous medical technology companies and was appointed as an independent director to the Board of Pulse Biosciences in 2017. He was also a managing director of early-stage life science accelerator Emergent Medical Partners.

Fogarty Innovation Fogarty left Stanford Medical School after about 14 years as a professor and practicing cardiovascular surgeon. In September 2007, at Mountain View, California, he founded Fogarty Innovation (previously known as the Fogarty Institute for Innovation) to spur medical device innovation. The idea for the incubator dates back to Fogarty's early life when he was mentored and encouraged by Dr. Jack Cranley. Fogarty stated:

The winery is run today by Tom Fogarty, Jr. and the Fogarty family with production overseen by Winegrower Nathan Kandler. It has become well known as a top producer of single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. Thomas Fogarty Winery was named by Wine and Spirits magazine as one of its top 100 wineries in 2014.

Death Fogarty died at his home in Los Altos, California, on December 28, 2025, at the age of 91.

Awards Distinguished Scientific Presentations, American College of Surgeons, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981 Inventor of the Year, San Francisco Patent and Trademark Association, 1980 Honorary Doctorate, Xavier University, 1987 Lemelson-MIT Prize, 2000 AAMI Foundation Laufman-Greatbatch Prize, 2000 National Inventors Hall of Fame, 2001 Medical Design Excellence Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, 2012 AdvaMed Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015

Affiliated organizations American Association for Thoracic Surgery American College of Surgeons, Fellow American Surgical Association International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery-North American Chapter International Society of Endovascular Specialists National Academy of Engineering, Member Pacific Coast Surgical Association Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery Society of Thoracic Surgeons Society for Vascular Surgery Society of Vascular Technology Western Thoracic Surgical Society