Keynote Speaker: Paul Citron, PhD

Paul Citron, PhD (HD), adjunct faculty at the University of California San Diego, is an inventor with 10 medical technology patents. Most notable is the "tined" cardiac pacing lead. It dramatically reduced serious complications of the then-existing state-of-the-art procedure, spontaneous lead dislodgment, which occurred in 8 to 20+ percent of patients and rendered cardiac pacing ineffective. The tined lead reduced dislodgment to less than 1 percent and became the pacing lead of choice among physicians and was broadly licensed. Millions of patients benefited from this innovation.

Citron's career at Medtronic was followed by academic positions at Georgia Tech and UC San Diego, where he shared his experience in corporate entrepreneurship and the important role of intellectual property in a vigorous innovation ecosystem. He has served on external advisory boards at the University of California San Diego (Engineering and Health divisions), University of Washington (Kidney Dialysis), Drexel University, Georgia Tech, and others. Citron is elected Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the National Academy of Inventors. Citron holds a BS and Honorary PhD from Drexel University and an MSEE from the University of Minnesota.