The 34th ‘National Inventor of the Year Award’ has been awarded to Professor Raymond V. Damadian for the invention of the FONAR UPRIGHT™ Multi-Position™ MRI.

The Honorable Congressman Howard L. Berman, who presented Professor Damadian with the award said: “The Upright™ MRI scanner can examine any part of the body under its normal functional load. This is particularly useful in diagnosing patients whose pain or other symptoms occur only the way they are in specific positions. It also allows doctors to image the cardiovascular system when the body is upright and blood is being propelled against gravity.

“The scanner’s open configuration will provide better patient comfort during MRI imaging and will be a more effective tool for patient treatment. Dr. Raymond Damadian, Congratulations for this extraordinary achievement. I am very honored and pleased to present you the ‘National Inventor of the Year’ plaque and award.”

The Honorable Howard L. Berman and Dr. Raymond V. Damadian with the National Inventor of the Year Award. Photo: FONAR

"We are delighted to honor Dr. Damadian with this award," said IPO Education Foundation President Harry J. Gwinnell. "His contributions to the field of magnetic resonance imaging, particularly with the Upright™ MRI technology for which we salute him today, have been critical in advancing modern medicine's diagnostic and treatment capabilities."

“I am pleased to accept this award from the IPOEF. There are many people I have to thank for this honor,” said Dr. Damadian. “This award is possible because of the invention of the FONAR UPRIGHT™ Multi-Position™ MRI and is rightfully shared with the FONAR team, a majority who have been with the Company for more than a decade and a half. It is their hard work and genius that created this medical marvel which is revolutionizing diagnostic medicine. It is all of us who contributed to the FONAR UPRIGHT™ Multi-Position™ MRI who should be proud of this ‘Invention of the Year’.”

Invention of the Year Photo: FONAR

FONAR say it's the world's only whole-body MRI that scans patients in numerous weight-bearing positions, i.e., standing, sitting, flexion, extension, and lateral bending, as well as the conventional lie-down position.

In 1989, Dr. Damadian was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, now in Akron, Ohio, for the invention of the MR scanner. Ms. Rini Paiva, executive director of the National Inventors Hall of Fame said: “The inventors who have been inducted all contributed greatly to the way we live our lives, and Dr. Damadian is among those who continues to invent and change the way we live. Now, 18 years since being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for revolutionizing the field of diagnostic medicine with the invention of the MRI, he has again revolutionized the field of diagnostic medicine with the invention of the Upright™ MRI.”

Dr. Damadian has received widespread recognition for his inventiveness. In 2004, he received The Benjamin Franklin Medal and The Bower Award for Business Leadership from the Franklin Institute. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan awarded Dr. Damadian the National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest honor in technology, for the invention of the MRI.

Dr. Damadian remarked about the United States Patent: “It is the only property right to the citizens of America that is included in the U.S. Constitution itself. Our founding fathers viewed the patent as a right of citizenship so consequential to the well being of the new republic as to immortalize it in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) and rank it in significance alongside the “Blessing of Liberty,” the right to make laws, the right to collect taxes, and the right to empower armed forces.”

“Indeed,” said Dr. Damadian, “except for the U.S. Patent there might well be no MRI today. The prospect of a patent to generate revenues enabled me to depart from my academic research and develop a practical application of that research, mainly an NMR body scanner (MRI), whose invention and construction would be able to assure the funding needed to continue that research into the future.”

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