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New professorship provides possibilities

During a three-hour power outage in Minneapolis in 1957, heart patients who relied on alternating current power suddenly lost access to their lifesaving pacemakers, resulting in the death of a young patient. The devastating loss demonstrated the need for a medical device breakthrough.

Enter: Earl Bakken, a newly minted electrical engineer who—working out of a makeshift setup in his garage—created a portable, battery-
powered pacemaker in just four weeks, followed by the first implantable pacemaker a year later.

Bakken’s inventions that year marked the founding of Medtronic, which is now the world’s largest medical technology company, operating in over 150 countries and serving 78 million patients annually.

Now, to foster similar innovative breakthroughs, Medtronic has established its first endowed professorship at �Ӱ���Ƶ School of Medicine, appointing William Grissom, PhD, as the Medtronic Professor of Biomedical Discovery and Innovation.

Grissom’s research aims to improve medical imaging so doctors can get clearer, more useful information from MRI scans. He and his lab members are creating real-time magnetic resonance imaging systems for use during treatments, developing tools to use sound waves to relieve nerve pain and using robotic lasers to treat epilepsy.

“This professorship will allow my lab to conduct early-stage, forward-looking pilot studies,” said Grissom.

Medtronic’s mission has always been to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life, said Rob Kowal, MD, vice president and general manager of cardiac pacing therapies at the company. But that important work, he said, is also accomplished through partnerships that help make it possible.

“[We must also] leverage our capabilities in areas where we can make unique contributions through advanced technology development,” Kowal explained. “This allows us to identify and address unmet patient needs.”

“Medtronic was founded by engineers 75 years ago in a garage to solve problems,” said Adele Suttle (CIT ’91), vice president of cardiac rhythm management operations at Medtronic. “This support for Dr. Grissom’s research through the Medtronic professorship embodies the
integration of medical and engineering problem-solving.”

Originally published in the summer 2025 issue of Forward Thinking magazine