Van Phillips (born 1954) is an American inventor of
prosthetics
In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (congenital disorder). Prosthe ...
.
Biography
He is known for the Flex-Foot brand of artificial foot and limbs that he created,
and for his charity work for amputees.
An amputee himself, having lost a leg below the knee at age 21, Phillips was motivated by the limitations of then-existing artificial limbs to attend the
Northwestern University Medical School
Northwestern or North-western or North western may refer to:
* Northwest, a direction
* Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois
** The Northwestern Wildcats, this school's intercollegiate athletic program
** No ...
Prosthetic-Orthotic Center. After graduation, he worked as a biomedical design engineer at the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...
before starting his own company, Flex-Foot Incorporated in 1984.
Phillips ultimately created a workable artificial foot made from
carbon graphite. Unlike all previous prostheses, it stored kinetic energy from the wearer's steps as potential energy, like a spring, allowing the wearer to run and jump. A prosthetic foot that he created, the
Flex-Foot Cheetah, is used by double-amputee and
Paralympics
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
gold-medalist
Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( , ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius r ...
, and about 90 percent of Paralympics participants use a variation of the original Flex-Foot design, as well as thousands of people around the world.
Phillips sold Flex-Foot to
Ă–ssur in 2000, which continues to manufacture the artificial foot.
In 1999 he established Second Wind, a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
to provide inexpensive and resistant prostheses to amputees around the world, and is now working to create a prosthetic leg for
land mine
A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...
victims in developing countries.
In 1998 he received the
Brian Blatchford Memorial Prize from the
International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics.
See also
*
Ă–ssur#Prosthetics
References
External links
Van Phillips page at ossur.com2011 Video of Van Phillips giving a presentation on inventing his prosthetics
1954 births
Living people
20th-century American inventors
Feinberg School of Medicine alumni
University of Utah staff
Sports inventors and innovators
American amputees
Prosthetics
Engineers from Utah
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