Experts
Dean Kamen
Co-founder, FIRST; President, DEKA Research and Development
Dean Kamen shares how he adapted one of his inventions, a tiny drug delivery system for neonatal cancer patients, for adults with other conditions. Read More
Inventor Dean Kamen discusses how successful creative people fail frequently, rarely work linearly and never give up. Read More
In our lifetime we’re going to start to see individual therapies customized for individual patients, and it’s going to change the way people get health care. Read More
Increasing medical bills are a fact of life, says the scientist. In fact, "we should be happy that we are such a rich society ... that we can afford to put more and more of our resources into something like health care." Read More
Dean Kamen jokes about how his first invention wasn’t a big seller. Read More
Inventor Dean Kamen calls on us to inspire children to be engineers and problem-solvers, not the next NBA or Hollywood star. Read More
The co-founder of FIRST talks about creativity, inspiring kids to become geeks and the myth that the US has a healthcare crisis. Read More
About Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen is an American scientist and inventor whose products include the Segway human transporter (HT) and the iBOT battery-powered wheelchair. His inventions include medical devices and futuristic gizmos that Kamen hopes will revolutionize the way we live and travel.
In 1989, Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a robotics competition for high school students. In 2007, it held 37 competitions in countries such as Israel, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
Kamen is the President of DEKA Research and Development.
Kamen was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997 for his biomedical devices and for making engineering more popular among high school students. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 by then President Clinton for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide. In 2002, Kamen was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize for inventors, for his invention of the Segway and of an infusion pump for diabetics. In 2005 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his invention of the AutoSyringe. In 2006 Kamen was awarded the Global Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations.