James McEwen (engineer)

James McEwen OC OBC (born June 10, 1948) is a Canadian biomedical engineer and the inventor of the microprocessor-controlled automatic tourniquet system, which is now standard for 15,000-20,000 procedures daily in operating rooms worldwide.[1][2] Their widespread adoption and use has significantly improved surgical safety, quality and economy.[3][2] McEwen is President of Western Clinical Engineering Ltd., a biomedical engineering research and development company and he is a director of Delfi Medical Innovations Inc., a company he founded to commercialize some results of that research and development.[4][5][1][6] He is also an adjunct professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, in the Department of Orthopaedics and in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia.[7][8][5]

In 2020, to recognize his invention of automatic tourniquets for surgery and other applications he was inducted to the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame,[9][6] joining others including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, Banting and Best, Nikola Tesla and Steve Jobs.[10] The National Inventors Hall of Fame, in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 'honors the visionaries whose patented inventions have changed our world'.[11] Inductees 'must hold a U.S. patent for an invention that is groundbreaking or a significant advancement in their field' and their 'inventions have been put into widespread use and have improved societal well-being, provided economic benefits to the country and advanced scientific understanding'.[11]

He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[12][13]

  1. ^ a b "Saving an arm and a leg". Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  2. ^ a b Noordin, Shahryar (2009). "Surgical tourniquets in orthopaedics". The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume. 91 (12): 2958–2967. doi:10.2106/JBJS.I.00634. PMID 19952261. S2CID 12326487.
  3. ^ McEwen, James (1981). "Complications of and improvements in pneumatic tourniquets used in surgery". Medical Instrumentation. 15 (4): 253–257. PMID 7300701.
  4. ^ "Company Profile". Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  5. ^ a b "James A. McEwen named to the Order of Canada". UBC Faculty of Medicine. 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  6. ^ a b "James McEwen Inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame | Electrical and Computer Engineering | UBC". www.ece.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  7. ^ "Dr. James McEwen Receives Order of Canada for Engineering | Electrical and Computer Engineering | UBC". www.ece.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  8. ^ "IEEE Author James A. McEwen". IEEE. Retrieved 2019-09-16.
  9. ^ "James McEwen | The National Inventors Hall of Fame". www.invent.org. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  10. ^ "National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees List | National Inventors Hall of Fame®". www.invent.org. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  11. ^ a b "Nomination Form | National Inventors Hall of Fame®". www.invent.org. 2023-11-29. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
  12. ^ "SFU News Online - Six of Canada's finest to receive honorary degrees - May 28, 2009". www.sfu.ca. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  13. ^ "Faculty | Department of Orthopaedics". orthopaedics.med.ubc.ca. Retrieved Apr 19, 2019.