Scripps Cardiologist Wins Prestigious International Innovation Prize

Scripps Clinic cardiologist Richard Schatz, MD, has won the 2019 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, presented by the National Academy of Engineering and Ohio University, for his seminal role in the development of heart stents, which spurred a revolution in the treatment of coronary artery disease.

Dr. Schatz was among five physicians and researchers who received the prestigious honor this month for their various inventions and innovations that led to the widespread adoption of percutaneous coronary intervention. Also known as “PCI,” the catheter-based minimally invasive procedure uses stents and angioplasty to clear blocked arteries in the heart.

The Russ Prize, which is modeled after the Nobel Prize, recognizes bioengineering achievements worldwide that are in widespread use and have significantly improved the human condition.

Dr. Schatz is research director of cardiovascular interventions at the Scripps Heart, Lung and Vascular Center in San Diego, and director of gene and stem cell therapy. He is a recognized international expert in interventional cardiology and has published and lectured extensively.

In 1988, Dr. Schatz and fellow Russ Prize recipient Julio Palmaz, MD, received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the first study of stents in human coronary circulation. In 1994, the FDA approved the Palmaz-Schatz stent as the first such device to reduce restenosis, which is the arterial narrowing that can occur after a balloon angioplasty.