2018 Inductees

Sara Blakely

2018 Inductees

Sara Blakely

Sara Blakely

Founder, SPANX®
Sara Blakely Foundation
Graduate, Florida State University

5 U.S. patents

Sara Blakely is a Tampa Bay native and Florida State University alumna who invented the renowned undergarment SPANX and built a billion dollar enterprise that has influenced fashion worldwide. With the extremely hot and humid weather in Florida, wearing traditional pantyhose everyday was not pleasant. In an attempt to continue to benefit from control top smoothness, Blakely set out to invent pantyhose without seamed toes that did not roll up on her thighs. After self-patenting her idea for this innovative shapewear, she spent her life’s savings of five thousand dollars to follow her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. After much persistence she found a garment manufacturer to mass produce her product and launched sales from her apartment in August 2000. By 2014, SPANX annual revenues reached $250 million. Blakely is committed to sharing her success by helping women pursue education and training in entrepreneurship. In 2006, she founded the SPANX by Sara Blakely Foundation, which has donated millions to charities around the world. Blakely is the first self-made, female billionaire to sign The Giving Pledge, donating at least half of her wealth to charity. Blakely holds 5 U.S. patents.

Emery N. Brown

2018 Inductees

Emery Brown

Emery N. Brown, Ph.D., M.D.

Director, Neuroscience Statistics Research Lab
Massachusetts General Hospital
Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia
Harvard Medical School
Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and of Computational Neuroscience
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Native Floridian

14 U.S. patents

Emery N. Brown, born and raised in Ocala, Florida, is an anesthesiologist-statistician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an MIT and Harvard professor who made significant contributions to the advancement of the science and practice of anesthesiology, enabling physicians to accurately monitor and safely control the state of patients under anesthetic. Brown’s experimental research has shown that a primary mechanism through which anesthetics induce altered arousal states is by creating oscillations that disrupt neuronal communication among different brain regions. His research has also shown that anesthesia induced oscillations change systematically with anesthetic drug class and with age. These oscillations, which are readily visible in the EEG, can be used to guide drug dosing, as well as accurately monitor and implement new approaches to precisely control the anesthetic state. Brown is also recognized for his statistics research in which he has developed statistical methods to analyze dynamic processes in neuroscience. He served on President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative Working Group and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering as well as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In recognition of his many accomplishments, May 15, 2016, was named Dr. Emery Neal Brown Day by the Marion County Board of Commissioners. Brown holds 3 U.S. patents.

Phillip A. Furman

2018 Inductees

Phil Furman

Phillip A. Furman, Ph.D.

Microbiologist and Researcher
Graduate, University of South Florida

20 U.S. patents

Phillip A. Furman is past president of the International Society for Antiviral Research and distinguished alumnus of the University of South Florida, whose revolutionary discoveries led to the development of antiviral drugs that are used to treat some of the most insidious viral diseases in the past 50 years including AIDS, Herpes, and Hepatitis C. Furman had a long and notable career at the Wellcome Research Laboratories and several biotech companies including Triangle Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Pharmasset, Inc. He is responsible for determining the mechanism of action for Acyclovir, commonly used to treat Herpes. While at Wellcome Laboratories he was named an inventor of Retrovir (AZT) the first antiviral approved for treatment of HIV. At Triangle Pharmaceuticals he was an inventor of several combination therapies involving Emtricitabine and Clevudine as well as other drugs for the treatment of HIV and Hepatitis B. After moving to Pharmasset, he was involved in the development of a number of drugs, including Sofosbuvir, for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. With fewer side effects and a 99% effectiveness rate, Sofosbuvir has become one of the most widely used anti-HCV drugs. Prior to Furman’s research available HCV treatments were, at best, 70% effective, thus his work has greatly impacted the health and well-being of millions of people worldwide. Furman holds 20 U.S. patents.

Richard A. Houghten

2018 Inductees

Richard Houghten

Richard A. Houghten, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies

91 U.S. patents

Richard A. Houghten is the founder and CEO of Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (TPIMS), headquartered in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He has made a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry through his research and patents related to his groundbreaking approaches that enable millions of compounds to be searched while requiring the actual screening of only 250-500 samples. These approaches have revolutionized drug discovery across the nation by identifying ligand receptor interactions, which are the cornerstone of drug discovery. Because of his work, vaccines and diagnostic devices were created and have greatly contributed to science and medicine world-wide. Houghten’s inventions and commercial success led to the creation of TPIMS, recognized internationally for its scientific contributions in a wide range of fields including chemistry, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, immunology, infectious disease, heart disease, and pain management. His dedication to both academia and industry has made him an effective ambassador for Florida and the nation around the world. Houghten has over 450 peer reviewed publication and holds 91 issued U.S. patents.

Edwin A. Link

2018 Inductees

Ed Link

Edwin A. Link

Former Vice President
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Florida Atlantic University

1904-1981

27 U.S. patents

Edwin A. Link, former trustee and vice president for the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), was a pioneer in aviation, underwater archaeology, and submersibles. He is most recognized for inventing the flight simulator, commercialized in 1929, which has trained countless pilots including 500,000 airmen during World War II. Link’s interests later turned to undersea exploration and, in 1965, his Sea Diver II research vessel first entered the Harbor Branch canal to seek shelter from an approaching hurricane. That same year, the Link Foundation awarded a grant to FAU for the first undergraduate ocean engineering program in the country. Much of the early science was done in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and another of Link’s on-site partners, the Florida Institute of Technology. This program generated new submersible decompression chamber exploration platforms, including the Deep Diver, designed for lockout diving, and a new class of human-occupied submersible vehicles, the first of which was launched in 1971. These aquatic research tools have been used to discover, observe and collect thousands of biological samples from ocean reefs, previously unknown to the marine science world. Today, Link simulators are still widely used for aircraft, spacecraft, ship, surface vehicle, and medical training. Link is a named inventor on 27 U.S. patents.

Sudipta Seal

2018 Inductees

Sudipta Seal

Sudipta Seal, Ph.D.

Trustee Chair
Chair, Materials Science and Engineering
Pegasus and University Distinguished Professor
University of Central Florida

55 U.S. patents

Sudipta Seal is Trustee Chair, Pegasus and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF), whose materials manufacturing expertise creating unique nano cerium oxide led to the discovery of its antioxidant properties and groundbreaking therapeutic applications in regenerative nano-medicine. Seal also developed multi-functional nanomaterial additives for aerospace nanoenergetics and his research in power plant fly ash waste has created unique chemistry of ash particles with nanostructures that can be used to clean up oil spills. Former director of the Nanoscience Technology Center (NTC) and Advanced Materials Processing Analysis (AMPAC), currently Seal is chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department with an appointment at UCF College of Medicine. The academic units that Seal oversees are continuously creating new inventions and technology at UCF. Seal has published more than 400 journal papers, conference proceedings papers, book chapters, and three books on nanotechnology. His many accomplishments have impacted the wellbeing of society and created a productive ecosystem of economic development in central Florida. Seal is a fellow of the American Society of Materials, American Association of Advancement of Science, American Vacuum Society, Institute of Nanotechnology-UK, National Academy of Inventors, Electrochemical Society, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and was recently elected to the World Academy of Ceramics. He holds 55 U.S. patents and his technology is licensed to multiple companies.

Herbert Wertheim

2018 Inductees

Herbert Wertheim

Herbert Wertheim, OD., D.Sc., MD. (hc)

Founder and CEO
Brain Power Incorporated

9 U.S. patents

Herbert A. Wertheim is an optometric physician, alumnus of the University of Florida (UF), and honorary alumnus of Florida International University (FIU) who was the first to discover and produce ultraviolet light dye absorbers for eyeglass lenses, helping millions avoid cataracts and other eye diseases. Wertheim is also the founder and CEO of Brain Power Incorporated (BPI), the world’s largest manufacturer of ophthalmic instruments, cosmetic and therapeutic tints for eyeglass lenses, and diagnostic products for optometrists, ophthalmologists, opticians and optical laboratories. More recently, BPI manufactured colored dyes that have been used in diagnosing and/or treating dyslexia, autism, Parkinson’s-related dyskinesia, and childhood migraines. He was a founding member of the FIU Board of Trustees and, as chairman of FIU’s Academic Affairs Committee, he won approval for and chaired the Medical College Initiative. In 2009, the Wertheim’s made a $20 million contribution to FIU, which became $40 million with state matching, to establish multiple endowments and eight endowed chairs for the Medical College, including the first endowed chair in Optometry and Physiological Optics in any medical school. FIU then named the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in his honor. He was also instrumental in establishing FIU’s Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center, building the Wertheim Conservatory, and transforming the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences at FIU. In October 2015, UF announced the naming of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering in honor of the Wertheim Family Foundation’s gift of $50 million, which funded an Engineering Innovation building and fostered collaboration between UF and FIU. He has served as chairman of the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation since 1977, which has supported hundreds of local and international educational, cultural, sporting, and health care organizations around the world. In 2016, Herbert and Nicole Wertheim joined The Giving Pledge. He holds 9 U.S. patents.