Establishment Labs Announces M.I.T. Professor Dr. Robert Langer is Joining Scientific Advisory Board

Establishment Labs announced today that M.I.T. Professor Dr. Robert Langer, winner of the prestigious Lemelson-M.I.T. Innovation Prize, will join its Scientific Advisory Board.
“Our company is delighted to welcome Dr. Langer to our innovation team,” said Juan Jose Chacon Quiros, CEO of Establishment Labs. “We take women’s health in breast aesthetics and reconstruction very seriously. As we work to transform this industry we need scientists of the caliber of Dr. Langer; their minds and experience will make the difference for women worldwide.”

Dr. Langer served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board, the FDA’s highest advisory board, from 1995 - 2002 and as its Chairman from 1999 - 2002 and has received over 220 major awards, including the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers, the 2008 Millennium Prize, the world’s largest technology prize, the 2012 Priestley Medal, the highest award of the American Chemical Society, the 2013 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the 2014 Kyoto Prize. He is also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award; 82 recipients of this award have subsequently received a Nobel Prize.

In 1989, Dr. Langer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1992 he was elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2012 he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors.
“There has simply been no true innovation in breast implant technology over the last 25 years and finally, Establishment Labs is a company creating real change in the industry,” said Dr. Langer. “Nanotechnology and sensor diagnostics are transforming medicine and I am enthusiastic to join the pioneering efforts of Establishment Labs in bringing this approach to breast implants.”

“Having the ability to attract the best scientists, researchers and clinicians throughout the world, further validates this company’s technological prowess in an industry that has long been underserved,” expressed Rudy Mazzocchi, Executive Chairman of Establishment Labs. “We are extremely excited to have Dr. Langer as a key member of our Scientific Advisory Board as we continue to advance our aggressive product development initiatives and build our intellectual property portfolio.”

Forbes Magazine (1999) and Bio World (1990) have named Dr. Langer as one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Discover Magazine (2002) named him as one of the 20 most important people in this area. Forbes Magazine (2002) selected Dr. Langer as one of the top 15 worldwide innovators who will help reinvent the future of medical implantable devices. Time Magazine and CNN (2001) named Dr. Langer as one of the 100 most important people in America and one of the 18 top people in science or medicine in America (America’s Best).