Van Phillips (born 1954) is an American inventor of

prosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

Biography

He is known for the Flex-Foot brand of artificial foot and limbs that he created, and for his charity work for amputees. An amputee himself, having lost a leg below the knee at age 21, Phillips was motivated by the limitations of then-existing artificial limbs to attend the

Northwestern University Medical School Northwestern or North-western or North western may refer to: * Northwest, a direction * Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois ** The Northwestern Wildcats, this school's intercollegiate athletic program ** ...

Prosthetic-Orthotic Center. After graduation, he worked as a biomedical design engineer at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

before starting his own company, Flex-Foot Incorporated in 1984. Phillips ultimately created a workable artificial foot made from carbon graphite. Unlike all previous prostheses, it stored kinetic energy from the wearer's steps as potential energy, like a spring, allowing the wearer to run and jump. A prosthetic foot that he created, the Flex-Foot Cheetah, is used by double-amputee and Paralympics gold-medalist Oscar Pistorius, and about 90 percent of Paralympics participants use a variation of the original Flex-Foot design, as well as thousands of people around the world. Phillips sold Flex-Foot to

Össur Össur hf. is a company based in Iceland that develops, manufactures and sells non-invasive equipment for orthopaedics, including bracing and support products, compression therapy, and prosthetics. The company is headquartered in Reykjavík, wit ...

in 2000, which continues to manufacture the artificial foot. In 1999 he established Second Wind, a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

to provide inexpensive and resistant prostheses to amputees around the world, and is now working to create a prosthetic leg for

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

victims in developing countries. In 1998 he received the

Brian Blatchford Memorial Prize Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word mea ...

from the

International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) is a non-governmental organization of people working in or interested in prosthetics, orthotics, mobility and assistive devices technology. It was founded in 1970 in Copenhagen, Denma ...

References

External links

Van Phillips page at ossur.com

2011 Video of Van Phillips giving a presentation on inventing his prosthetics
1954 births Living people 20th-century American inventors Northwestern University alumni University of Utah staff Sports inventors and innovators American amputees Prosthetics Engineers from Utah {{US-inventor-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links