Dr. Palmaz received his M.D. degree in 1971 at the National University of La Plata, Argentina, and completed his radiology specialty training at the University of California, Davis in 1980.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, November 30, 2006 - Julio Palmaz, M.D., world-renowned inventor of the PALMAZ® Stent, became the inaugural recipient and namesake of an industry award honoring innovation in healthcare and the biosciences.

The Julio Palmaz Award for Innovation in Healthcare and the Biosciences was launched in San Antonio by BioMed SA, a non-profit corporation founded in 2005 to help grow and promote the city's thriving healthcare and bioscience sector. The award honors individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to advances in these fields. Dr. Palmaz accepted the first award, named in his honor, at BioMed SA's Annual Meeting in San Antonio.

Dr. Palmaz, who holds the Ashbel Smith Professorship at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is widely recognized for inventing the first commercially successful intravascular stent to open clogged arteries. The PALMAZ® Stent, which received FDA approval in the 1990s, revolutionized cardiac care. Doctors now place more than 2 million stents annually. IP Worldwide magazine ranked the stent as one of "10 Patents that Changed the World," and earlier this year Dr. Palmaz was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

"As a caring physician, dedicated researcher and successful entrepreneur, Dr. Palmaz embodies the qualities we seek to honor with this award," said Henry Cisneros, Chairman of BioMed SA and a former four-term mayor of San Antonio. "Dr. Palmaz's development of the stent illustrates the type of medical breakthroughs coming out of San Antonio's vibrant healthcare and bioscience community. We are proud to name this new award in his honor."