Richard A. Hillstead, Ph.D., FAHA

Rick Hillstead has been involved in the design and development of medical devices for over 25 years. He held senior engineering positions with Cordis Corporation (J&J) from 1987 to 1993 where he pioneered device development in the coronary stent program. He directed new technology development for Novoste Corporation from 1993 until 1999, developing catheters and systems for the treatment of restenosis following angioplasty and stenting. He has executed and supervised product development programs, taking projects from concept through sales release and ongoing manufacturing.  In 1999 he became a founding member of The Innovation Factory, a private medical device incubator where he served as Chief Science Officer and was responsible for all aspects of New Product R&D, technical due diligence, IP development and analysis. He served as an EIR to the US FDA in 2012 and 2013 and continues to work with the CDRH. He is a Fellow of the Council on Clinical Cardiology at The American Heart Association (FAHA) His primary area of expertise is devices for cardiology, laparoscopic surgery, orthopedics, emergency medicine, body contouring, wound management, and ophthalmology. He is an accomplished engineer and inventor named on approximately eightyy issued U.S. patents and pending applications and dozens of international patents, all relating to medical devices. His intellectual property has been referenced in over six thousand issued U.S. patents and pending applications.  He is frequently asked to speak on the topic of Medical Device Product Innovation. He has given expert testimony in the field of medical devices in US courts and arbitrations and served as an expert witness to the High Court of Justice in the UK. He has submitted declarations and appeared in person in connection with oppositions at the European Patent Office. He has provided sworn testimony, expert reports, rebuttal expert reports, evidence analysis, and participation in all phases of patent litigation including document discovery, re-exams, Markman preparation, internet searching, and deposition support. He has worked for/against Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Guidant, Scimed, Edwards Life Sciences, Cordis Corporation, Gore, CoreValve, Covidien, Johnson and Johnson, and others.  He has worked for the defendant in a federal criminal “theft-of-trade-secret case as well as other civil theft-of-trade-secret cases. He is the 2019 recipient of the Georgio Bio Industry Growth Award, the highest honor awarded by the Georgis Bioscience community.