From left to right: University President C.D. Mote, Jr., Dr. Robert Fischell, Dean Nariman Farvardin and University System Chancellor William "Brit" Kirwan.

On December 19, 2005, the Clark School announced a $31 million gift from Dr. Robert E. Fischell and his family to establish the Fischell Department of Bioengineering and the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices.

The ceremony took place in the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building's Innovation Hall of Fame, of which Dr. Fischell is an inductee. Remarks were made by William "Brit" Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; C.D. Mote, Jr., president of the University of Maryland; Clark School Dean Nariman Farvardin; Robert Fischell; his son Dr. David Fischell; Matthew Dowling, recipient of the Fischell Fellowship in Bioengineering; and Erin Fischell, grandaughter of Robert Fischell.

An information session and press conference was held after the main announcement. Robert Fischell and his sons demonstrated several biomedical devices invented by Fischell senior for members of the press and other guests.

More about the Fischell Gift

The Fischell gift is one of the three largest in the university's history and is the first gift to name a department at the university.

Robert Fischell's commitment of $30 million is the third gift of that size to the University of Maryland in 2005. The Clark School also was the recipient of one of the other two gifts—that of alumnus and benefactor A. James Clark, '50. Fischell's sons, David, Scott and Tim added another $1 million to their father's gift, for a total of $31 million.

Inventing the Future

Scientist and engineer Robert Fischell has had two pioneering careers, his current one inventing life-saving medical devices, and a former one helping create the modern era of space satellites so critical to communications, entertainment, business and national security.

Fischell, who holds more than 200 patents, is the father of modern medical stents, lifetime pacemaker batteries and implantable insulin pumps. He is also the father of his closest collaborators: sons David, Tim and Scott, who share his passion for changing the world through inventive genius, hard work and philanthropy.

One of the latest results of their collaborations is a pacemaker-sized implantable computer that provides the earliest possible warning of impending heart attack. Fischell founded Angel Medical Systems Inc., where son David is CEO, to bring this technology into use. Named by his granddaughter Jennifer Fischell, Angel Medical is one of more than half a dozen companies, including Pacesetter Systems, IsoStent, NeuroPace, and NeuraLieve, that Fischell has founded since 1969 to develop his inventions. NeuroPace is developing a new implantable device for ending epileptic seizures. NeuraLieve is developing a magnetic pulse device that stops migraine headaches.

Fischell—who serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland, College Park Foundation and on the Clark School of Engineering Board of Visitors—has a Master of Science in physics and an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Maryland. The establishment of the new Fischell Department of Bioengineering and Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices is a major step in the Clark School's continuing rise into the ranks of the nation's premier engineering schools.

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