As a cardiovascular explorer for over 45 years, George has spent his time seemingly between two worlds – terra firma and lower earth orbit. His earth-bound endeavors have included efforts to investigate cardiovascular function and the treatment of heart failure with mechanical devices including artificial hearts, ventricular assist devices, and cardiopulmonary support systems. In these projects, he has helped develop, test, and implement these technologies clinically in patients. In his collaborations with NASA, George as flown 53 research missions on the NASA parabolic flight aircraft and led the development of a cardiovascular diastolic function experiment – that included an instrumented artificial heart beating on a circulation simulator – that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Discovery! Through George’s storied and eclectic career, Transonic equipment has been utilized on several of the projects above. In our webinar, we were lucky to have George review through some of these milestones, help us understand how these two worlds connect and along the way, help us better appreciate what is possible in the future by reviewing the past. Below is a summary of the event:
George breaks down his research into 4 different opportunities for blood flow measurement:
Key advancements from the above projects include:
Our Q&A period included several questions from the field related to George’s perception of the current Left Ventricular Assist Device market, the importance of flow measurement, next steps in his lab and importantly, the connections between his earth bound and zero-G studies. To review the full presentation, you can click here to watch on demand at your convenience.
We would like to again thank Dr. George Pantalos for joining us for this interesting talk. If you would like to learn more about George’s work, you can visit his page on the University of Louisville’s website and you can also get a better idea of how the zero-G work progresses, by watching this video.
Talk with you soon!