2016 Medical Design Excellence Awards Winners: Lifetime Achievement Award

Manny Villafaña

Proclaimed a "Living Legend of Medicine" in 2006 by the World Society of Cardio Thoracic Surgeons, Manny Villafaña has been awarded a number of pacemaker, heart valve, and stent patents. He coinvented the first lithium-powered pacemaker and codeveloped the first St. Jude heart valve.

Villafaña has started seven public companies--including Cardiac Pacemakers Inc./Guidant Corp., St. Jude Medical, and ATS Medical--and is currently CEO of Medical 21 Inc.