Bayview native Eric Williams' innovations save lives around the globe

The oldest theater building in San Francisco, built before the earthquake in the 1880s, has an auditorium named the Ruth Williams Memorial Theater.  She was one of a group of exceptionally dedicated community minded women who made the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood one of the best organized communities in the country during the 1950s and 1960s.

Last November, the building received the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation from the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Back then, the naval shipyard was the major employment magnet.  Now the area is a hub for biotechnology, with a new research campus and hospitals for the University of California-San Francisco.

Before any of those buildings broke ground, Eric Williams had set a course towards becoming one of the most important bioengineering pioneers of the past 20 years.

As co-founder of Advanced Stent Technologies, Williams designed a bifurcation stent and delivery systems for the treatment of coronary artery disease at the branch vessel of the heart.

Serving as executive vice president of research and operations, Williams gained the start-up funding for the venture, selected the management team, made all the intellectual property filings and developed the pre-clinical protocols for medical personnel and the Food and Drug Administration.

His success led to the acquisition of the company by Boston Scientific, where stents are now a billion dollar business category.

Williams holds 20 patents, with numerous additional patents pending.

Since 2005, he's joined Micrus Endovascular, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, to work on stents and coils for the treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes. Products include the Cashmere Coil and the Pharos Vitesse Stent.

As executive director of research and development, he's now in charge of all Micrus research in neurovascular access.

His patents include: 

Patent Number	Title Of Patent	Date Issued
7815675	Stent with protruding branch portion for bifurcated vessels	October 19, 2010
A stent for use in a bifurcated body lumen having a main branch and a side branch. The stent comprises a radially expandable generally tubular stent body having proximal and distal opposing ends with a body wall having a surface extending therebetween.
7771462	Catheter with side sheath and methods	August 10, 2010
A catheter system comprises a catheter having a catheter body with a distal end, a proximal end, a main vessel guidewire lumen for receiving a main vessel guidewire and a balloon disposing at the distal end of the catheter body.
7655030	Catheter balloon systems and methods	February 2, 2010
An apparatus for treatment of a bifurcation of a body lumen, the bifurcation having a main vessel and a branch vessel, the apparatus includes a bifurcated balloon with a first branch portion and a second branch portion.
7544170	Guidewire management devices and methods	June 9, 2009
A method of performing a medical procedure on a living body is provided. The method comprises inserting a leading end portion of a guidewire into the living body and advancing a trailing end portion of the guidewire into a container, the container being arranged to coil the trailing end.
7387639	Short sleeve stent delivery catheter and methods	June 17, 2008
A stent delivery catheter comprises a catheter body having a proximal end, a distal end, and a guidewire lumen extending from the distal end to at least part way between the proximal end and the distal end. A balloon is disposed over the catheter body near the distal end.
7341598	Stent with protruding branch portion for bifurcated vessels	March 11, 2008
The present invention is directed to a stent for use in a bifurcated body lumen having a main branch and a side branch. The stent comprises a radially expandable generally tubular stent body having proximal and distal opposing ends.
7220275	Stent with protruding branch portion for bifurcated vessels	May 22, 2007
The present invention is directed to a stent for use in a bifurcated body lumen having a main branch and a side branch. The stent comprises a radially expandable generally tubular stent body having proximal and distal opposing ends.
6884258	Bifurcation lesion stent delivery using multiple guidewires	April 26, 2005
A method for placing a stent into a main vessel such that the stent side hole aligns with a branch vessel ostium comprises inserting a main vessel guidewire into the main vessel and a branch vessel guidewire into the main vessel.
6862467	Imaging catheter assembly with distal end inductive coupler and embedded transmission line	March 1, 2005
A catheter assembly includes an elongate catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end with a drive cable disposed therein, the drive cable having a proximal end and a distal end, and rotatable relative to the catheter body. A first electro-magnetic element is disposed proximate t
6706062	Extendible stent apparatus	March 16, 2004
The present invention concerns novel stent apparatuses for use in treating lesions at or near the bifurcation point in bifurcated cardiac, coronary, renal, peripheral vascular, gastrointestinal , pulmonary, urinary and neurovascular vessels and brain vessels.
6692483	Catheter with attached flexible side sheath	February 17, 2004
A method of positioning a main stent at a vessel bifurcation such that a side opening in the main stent is positioned at the ostium of a branch vessel, comprising: positioning a main guidewire in the main vessel such that a distal end of the main guidewire extends past the bifurcation;
6682536	Guidewire introducer sheath	January 27, 2004
Systems and methods for positioning a first guidewire (25) in a primary vessel (M) and a second guidewire (27) in a branch vessel (B).
6596020	Method of delivering a stent with a side opening	July 22, 2003
A method of aligning a side opening in a primary stent in registry with the ostium of a branch vessel includes advancing a first guidewire through a primary vessel such that a distal end of the first guidewire extends past an intersection of the primary vessel and the branch vessel.
6450965	Imaging catheter assembly with distal end inductive coupler and embedded transmission line	September 17, 2002
A catheter assembly includes an elongate catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end with a drive cable disposed therein, the drive cable having a proximal end and a distal end, and rotatable relative to the catheter body.
6325826	Extendible stent apparatus	December 4, 2001
The present invention concerns novel stent apparatuses for use in treating lesions at or near the bifurcation point in bifurcated cardiac, coronary, renal, peripheral vascular, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, urinary and neurovascular vessels and brain vessels.
6245020	Catheter assembly with distal end inductive coupler and embedded transmission line	June 12, 2001
A catheter assembly includes an elongate catheter body having a proximal end and a distal end with a drive cable disposed therein, the drive cable having a proximal end and a distal end, and rotatable relative to the catheter body.
6027475	Catheter shaft with an oblong transverse cross-section	February 22, 2000
A balloon dilatation catheter having a catheter shaft with an oblong transverse cross-section with one transverse dimension in a first direction being significantly larger than a second transverse dimension in a direction perpendicular to the first direction.
6013069	Catheter shaft with an oblong transverse cross-section	January 11, 2000
A balloon dilatation catheter having a catheter shaft with an oblong transverse cross-section with one transverse dimension in a first direction being significantly larger than a second transverse dimension in a direction perpendicular to the first direction.
5743875	Catheter shaft with an oblong transverse cross-section	April 28, 1998