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News Making headlines runs in the family Joanna Frketich John Brash has come achingly close to conquering his own personal Everest just like his heroic son. Brash's son Andrew made headlines around the world in June when he abandoned his dream just 200 metres from the top of Mount Everest to help rescue another climber who had been left for dead. Brash has also saved lives while climbing his own mountain for the last 35 years as a pioneer in biomedical engineering, creating and improving man-made health-care devices used inside the body. The balloon pump he designed can get a stilled heart beating again during surgery. His work has made countless devices safer for patients by detailing exactly what happens when blood and man-made materials come into contact. But the ultimate goal that so far is just out of reach is making the material compatible with blood so heart patients getting vascular grafts, coronary stents, catheters or heart valves no longer face the risk of life-threatening complications such as stroke, heart attack or pulmonary embolism from the devices. "We're inching closer," he said. "My son got within 200 metres of the summit and we're in that position. We're close to the top, although it's a difficult way and it's not clear how we're going to get there." Brash was recently given a national award for his groundbreaking work from The Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. "I was very pleased and a little bit surprised," he said. The award recognizes Brash's role as one of the first leaders in biomedical engineering. It was practically unheard of when he decided to specialize in it 35 years ago after being assigned a medical project while working as a scientist in California. "I found it fascinating," he said. "I decided it was what I wanted to do. I was in at the beginning so I'm considered to be a pioneer." The field has grown so much that now Brash is preparing to lead McMaster's new school of biomedical engineering which will welcome its first 20 students next month. The graduate program, offering a two-year masters or a four-year PhD, is a partnership between McMaster's engineering and health sciences schools. "I've been hoping it would happen for years," he said. "It's very exciting. It will make a world of difference." jfrketich@thespec.com 905-526-3349
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