Katherine D. Crothall is an American laser scientist and businesswoman. She is a director of

University City Science Center The University City Science Center (UCSC) was established as the first and largest urban research park in the United States. It was established in 1963, within the demolished Black Bottom neighborhood of Philadelphia, now known as University Cit ...

, Pharmitas, Adhezion BioMedical, Xanitos, Inc, and Kimmel Center of Performing Arts. She is an overseer at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. She has over 25 patents, has authored scientific papers and has given papers at scientific and medical symposiums.

Career

Aspire Bariatrics, LLC (2010 - 2022)

She was the CEO and president of Aspire Bariatrics which developed a reversible and minimally invasive weight loss solution for people with obesity.

Liberty Venture Partners (2006 - 2010)

Crothall served as a principal of Liberty Venture Partners, Inc. from 2006 to 2010.

Animas Corporation (1996 - 2006)

She founded

Animas Corporation Animas Corporation was an American company that specialized in making insulin pumps. The company was founded by Katherine Crothall in 1996, had its initial public offering in May 2004 under the ticker symbol 'PUMP', and was ultimately acquired by ...

(NASDAQ: PUMP) in 1996 and served as its president, CEO and chairman from its inception to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson Corporation (NYSE: JNJ) in February, 2006 for $518 million. Animas is leading manufacturer of insulin infusion pumps located in West Chester, PA.

Luxar Corporation (1988 - 1996)

From 1988 to 1996, Crothall was president and CEO of the Luxar Corporation (

Seattle, WA Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

), which she founded with former Xanar Laser engineers Paul Diaz and Michael Levy in 1988. Luxar manufactured CO₂ lasers for cosmetic, oral, dental, and dermatological surgical applications. Luxar was later sold to ESC Medical (NASDAQ: ESCMF) in 1997. Many of Crothall's laser patents are still being used today in LightScalpel's LS-1005 and LS-2010 surgical and

dental laser A dental laser is a type of laser designed specifically for use in oral surgery or dentistry. In the United States, the use of lasers on the gums was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the early 1990s, and use on hard tissue li ...

systems.

Laakmann Electro-Optics (1978 - 1986)

Crothall founded Laakmann Electro-Optics in 1978 and was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 1981. She continued running the company for five years post-acquisition. Laakmann Electro-Optics manufactured CO₂ lasers for the medical, aerospace and industrial markets.

Patents

She holds over 25 patents in the laser,

fiber-optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

, thermal (infrared) imaging, and

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using ...

sensing fields. Patents include: All-metal RF-excited CO₂ lasers (US Pat 4,169,251) and flexible waveguides for CO₂ lasers (US Pat 4,652,083).

Awards

* Kumar Patel Prize in Laser Surgery (2023) - American Laser Study Club * Iris Newman Award (2009) - Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs * Mark A. Stevens Distinguished Alumni Award (2008) -

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

* Greater Philadelphia Raymond Rafferty Entrepreneurial Excellence Award (2004) * Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2003)

Academics

Crothall received a B.S. in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

in 1971 and a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the

in 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crothall, Katherine American electrical engineers USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Laser researchers Living people 1949 births American women chief executives Optical engineers Women in optics 21st-century American women