Dr. Joseph Schulman
Dr. Joseph Schulman started his higher education at Los Angeles City College. He went on to earn a bachelors degree at University of California, Los Angeles, in applied physics (spectroscopy), and a doctorate in biology, majoring in biophysics and earning minors in neurophysiology and genetics. He is an engineer-physicist-biologist, with a primary interest in the design of bioelectronics and biophysical instrumentation. During the past 50 years he has been continuously engaged in electronics design in university and industry, with 40 of those years in medical electronics. He is currently the Chief Scientist for the Mann Medical Research Organization.
Dr. Schulman worked for 11 years at UCLA in geophysics under Dr. Joseph Kaplan, in biophysics under Dr. Bernard C. Abbott (muscle physiology), and Dr. Theodore Bullock (neurophysiology). During the past 39 years, Dr. Schulman has worked on developing medical devices for the Alfred E. Mann group of companies. He was the technical founder of Pacesetter Systems, Neurodyne, Medical Research Group, Advanced Bionics Corporation, Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., Quallion LLC, Alfred E. Mann Foundation, and Bioness, Inc. He has more than 100 patents in biomedical technology and was President and Chief Scientist of the Alfred Mann Foundation for Scientific Research for 21 years during which the AMF won the MD&DI Medical Design Excellence Award in 2004 and the R & D 100 Award in 2005.
Among the commercial products that he initiated and/or helped start, were the rechargeable cardiac pacemaker, the first bidirectional telemetry programmable cardiac pacemaker (Pacesetter Systems, now St. Jude) the implantable insulin pump and the long term implantable glucose sensor (now Minimed Medtronics), the first battery powered cerebella stimulator to treat cerebral palsy (Neurodyne), the first computerized multichannel portable I.V. pump (Minimed Infusion, now Alaris), the first cochlear implant with bidirectional telemetry (the Clarion), and the first injectable battery and RF-powered programmable stimulator-sensor devices (Advanced Bionics Corporation, Bioness and Boston-Scientific), and the first subminiature lithium-ion rechargeable battery for injectable devices (Quallion LLC).
The first high speed low power radio network capable of communicating inside the human body to hundreds or thousands of coordinated micro-devices is presently being reviewed by the FCC and is in the final development stage at the Alfred Mann Foundation for Scientific Research. Two products that were not commercialized were the RF-powered intracranial pressure monitor, and the two-channel biotelemetry rechargeable programmable pulse generator known as the Human Tissue stimulator, for which he won the NASA Group Achievement Award. He is presently working on a prosthetic limb that is directly controlled and sensed by the human brain.
Dr. Schulman is a resident of the Santa Clarita Valley. He and his wife are active volunteers in the community and have been long-time supporters of College of the Canyons. Dr. Schulman has served on the College of the Canyons Foundation Board of Directors since 2009.