SARTA Pomeroy Med Tech Award Presented to Dr. William Bargar

Online, May 14, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Dr. William Bargar, inventor of ROBODOC ®, a precision surgical system for joint replacement, has been named winner of the SARTA MedStart 2013 Claire Pomeroy Award for Innovation in Medical Technology.

The Claire Pomeroy Awards were instituted by SARTA MedStart in 2010. They recognize Sacramento region inventors whose med tech innovations have had a global impact in transforming medicine and health care. Five nominees were considered for the 2013 award.

Bargar, an orthopedic surgeon with aeronautical and mechanical engineering degrees, began his private practice in Sacramento at Sutter General Hospital and Mercy Hospital. He has continued his active research at the UC Davis Research Labs and Sutter Institute for Medical Research.

Bargar's current practice, Joint Surgeons of Sacramento, is dedicated to hip and knee joint replacements. He worked several years ago with the late UC Davis veterinarian Dr. Howard Paul, a design team from IBM, and the Sutter Institute for Medical Research to develop a program for CT-based presurgical computerized planning and a prototype surgical robot. The prototype initially was used by Dr. Paul for hip replacement on injured pet dogs.

Bargar between 1992 and 1993 used a second-generation system to conduct the first trial of robotic total hip replacement in humans, and the world's first active robotic human surgery at Sutter General Hospital.

Bargar's automated system improves long-term implant survival and has eliminated femoral fractures resulting from implant placement. The system also has been adapted for total knee replacements, and been used in more 28,000 hip-replacement and knee-replacement procedures worldwide.

ROBODOC® is marketed by Curexo Technology Corporation of Fremont, Calif.

"Dr. Bargar's innovations are the latest example of a Sacramento innovator improving the way medicine and surgery are practiced globally through development of new technology. His example is inspiring to others with a great idea, and the will to be an entrepreneur, and to fight to turn an idea into reality," said Cary Adams, chair of SARTA MedStart. "As a region, we're striving to build the infrastructure so that more of the economic benefits from such innovation stay here in our community where it belongs."

The awards are named for Dr. Claire Pomeroy, CEO of the UC Davis Health System, Vice Chancellor, Human Health Sciences and Dean, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis. Pomeroy, who has been a strong proponent of the region's medical technology cluster, will leave UC Davis in June after ten years to become the President of the Lasker Foundation in New York.

Additional 2013 Pomeroy Award nominees and their technological innovations were:

David Batchelor, inventor of Healthcare identity solution LifeMed ID
Lisa Earnhardt, co-developer of PROPEL™ mini dissolvable steroid-releasing implants
Joseph Simpson, inventor of the Locking Cap for prescription bottles
Juan Ruben Valerio, inventor of Meds on Time, a pill reminder device

The Med Tech Showcase highlights Sacramento area strengths in medical technology, a sector of the regional economy that currently employs 4,961 at 126 companies. The 2013 event also featured:

keynote address by Dr. Eric Silfen, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Philips Healthcare, who is an international expert on the implementation of information technologies in the medical setting

Entrepreneur Showcase highlighting medical technology breakthroughs from companies based in the Sacramento region, including Applied Science, Care Innovations, HealthLinkNow, Stratovan and Wijit

sessions on The Future of Medical Technology Investing, featuring four Bay Area venture capital and angel investors, and Opportunities for Med Tech in the Changing Healthcare Delivery Marketplace, which includes representatives from the four major Sacramento region healthcare systems, including Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health and the UC Davis Health System.

MedStart, a program of SARTA, strives to build a thriving bioscience industry in the Sacramento region and its mission is to catalyze that growth. MedStart's programs include a CEO Forum, Telehealth Forum, its showcase and mixer, and quarterly workshops. For more information visit: http://www.sarta.org/medstart.html.