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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FLORIDA INVENTORS HALL OF FAME 2020 INDUCTEES
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HON. GUS M. BILIRAKIS
of florida
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the eight
inventors who have been recognized as the 2020 Inductees of the Florida
Inventors Hall of Fame. To be named as an Inductee, these inventors
were nominated by their peers nationwide and have undergone the
scrutiny of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame Selection Committee. As
a result, their innovations have been identified as significantly
impacting the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of
their communities, the residents of Florida, and the United States.
The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 2013 at the
University of South Florida. It was recognized by the Florida Senate
with Senate Resolution 1756, adopted on April 30, 2014. Its mission is
to encourage individuals of all backgrounds to strive toward the
betterment of Florida and society through continuous, groundbreaking
innovation by celebrating the incredible scientific work that has been
or is being accomplished in Florida and by its citizens.
Nomination to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame is open to all
Florida inventors (living or dead) who are or have been residents of
Florida. The nominee must be a named inventor on a patent issued by the
United States Patent and Trademark Office. The impact of the inventor
and his or her invention should be significant to society, and the
invention should have been commercialized, utilized, or led to
important innovations.
The 2020 Inductees of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame are:
Christopher Batich: University of Florida Professor of materials
science and engineering and biomedical engineering, who developed
groundbreaking treatments in patient care, most notably the anti-
bacterial surface treatment material, Bioguard, which is used as the
standard of care for advanced wound dressing and bacterial barriers in
hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Nicholas Bodor: Founder and CEO of Bodor Laboratories, University of
Florida Professor Emeritus and prolific inventor whose innovations in
drug discovery established the field of retrometabolic drug design and
led him to develop a portfolio of novel drugs to treat numerous
inflammatory disease processes.
Harvey Firestone (1868-1938): Founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber
Company whose pioneering innovations revolutionized the commercial
rubber industry, and who advanced scientific research in Florida and
co-founded the Edison Botanic Research Corporation to develop a
domestic source of natural rubber.
Leslie Kramer: Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing at
TaiLor Made Prosthetics; scientist, engineer and entrepreneur whose
long career in industry led to groundbreaking innovations in composite
materials, military defense applications and most notably an advanced
carbon-fiber composite prosthetic foot that has improved the lives of
amputees.
Israel Morejon: Founder and President of Integrated Engineering
Technology whose inventions have provided innovative solutions across
multiple industries, most notably state-of-the-art LED lighting
technologies, Nano projectors, wireless modem technology, optical
tomography for cancer detection systems, and cutting-edge HVAC Load
Reduction technology.
Joshua Rokach: Florida Institute of Technology Professor who was the
first to synthesize major inflammatory triggers responsible for asthma,
allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease, which revolutionized medical
research in allergy and inflammation and led him to develop a number of
groundbreaking drug discoveries, including Singulair and Flexeril.
Jean-Francois Rossignol: Co-Founder and Chief Medical & Scientific
Officer of Romark Laboratories and University of South Florida
Affiliate Professor of Medicine whose breakthroughs in treatments for
parasitic diseases led to his discovery of thiazolides, a new class of
antiparasitic agents, later discovered as a new class of broad-spectrum
antiviral drugs also used in the fight against novel infectious
diseases.
Christine Schmidt: University of Florida Professor and Chair of the
J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering whose
pioneering research in biomaterials science led to her development of
decellularization techniques used in Avance Nerve Graft, a
biochemically processed nerve graft that benefits patients with
peripheral nerve damage.
Innovation and invention are the building blocks of our nation. I
applaud these highly accomplished individuals and the organizations
that support them in their quest to change the world in ways that truly
benefit humanity. It is because of the perseverance of these inventors
that future generations are encouraged to reach beyond their limits and
push the boundaries of innovation.
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