Lifetime Achievement Winners

Rodney Perkins was born in Evansville, Indiana. After qualifying in medicine from Indiana University, he spent time as a trainee at Oxford University and the National Institute for Health. His clinical progression was rapid and he went on to become a celebrated Professor of ear surgery with a global reputation in hearing science, and he also founded the California Ear Institute, at Stanford.

He started getting involved in business in the 1970’s and his first company set out to make a new implantable ear drum. After hitting some technical hitches, the company changed direction and tact several times before it was taken public as the company responsible for injectable collagens, Collagen Corporation.

His unquenchable drive to change the medical device industry led to him filing numerous patents and founding more than ten companies several of which have been taken onto the public markets. These include, Laserscope Inc; ReSound; Cohesion; Novacept; Pulmonx; SoundPort; and ReSound. His latest company, Sound ID is set to do for hearing what contact lenses did for sight.

"He has an incredible ability to combine the scientific left brain with the entrepreneurial right brain," said Fred Hoar, a member of the Sound ID advisory board, former chairman of Miller/Shandwick Technologies and a co-founder of Menlo Park-based Band of Angels.

He continued, “Rodney is the modern-day Renaissance man who's quick to recognize opportunities and to act on them".

In 2011, in front of an esteemed audience of 800 movers and shakers in healthcare and business, Rodney was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for an unparalleled contribution to patient care.