BiVACOR, a clinical-stage medical device company developing the Total Artificial Heart (TAH), has announced that Jordan Ford, Mechanical Engineer at BiVACOR, recently won the coveted Sezai Award during the 29th Annual International Society of Mechanical Circulatory Support (ISMCS) conference hosted October 30 – November 1 in Dallas, TX. Image courtesy: BiVACOR
November 10, 2023 — BiVACOR, a clinical-stage medical device company developing the Total Artificial Heart (TAH), has announced that Jordan Ford, Mechanical Engineer at BiVACOR, recently won the Sezai Award, sponsored by Professor Y. Sezai of Nihon University, which is awarded to the individual who contributes to the most innovative paper.
The award was earned on behalf of the BiVACOR team for a paper titled “Short-term in-vitro System Reliability of the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart.” The paper highlights the impressively high durability of the BiVACOR pump and driveline, and was presented during the 29th Annual International Society of Mechanical Circulatory Support (ISMCS) conference hosted October 30 – November 1 in Dallas, TX, according to a statement issued by the company.
“The Sezai Award is widely considered the most prestigious award at the ISMCS conference,” said Daniel Timms, Ph.D., Founder and CTO of BiVACOR. “It isn't given out every year but rather only when there is a worthy abstract. Of the twenty years I've been participating in the ISMCS conference, I've only seen it awarded a handful of times. This award is a testament to both Jordan’s and the entire BiVACOR team’s hard work and is an indication of our success in both our design execution and testing over the years,” he added.
BiVACOR is a clinical-stage medical device company developing the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart (TAH), the first long-term therapy for patients with severe biventricular heart failure. The TAH is designed to replace the native heart and addresses the global unmet need of patients with end-stage heart failure (HF) by providing a next-generation life-extending solution, according to the written statement issued by the company, an international organization with operations in Huntington Beach, CA, Houston, TX, and Gold Coast, Australia.
The BiVACOR device is an implantable total artificial heart based on rotary blood pump technology. Similar in size to an adult fist, it is small enough to be implanted in many women and some children yet capable of providing enough cardiac output to an adult male undergoing exercise. The design, using magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) technology, the same principle used in high-speed trains, includes left and right vanes positioned on a common rotor to form the only moving part, a magnetically suspended double-sided centrifugal impeller. Even though there are no valves or flexing ventricle chambers, the pulsatile outflow is made possible by rapidly cycling the rotational speed of the impeller. The non-contact suspension provides large blood gaps, minimizing blood trauma and eliminating mechanical wear to offer a durable, reliable, and biocompatible heart replacement.
The ISMCS conference brings together distinguished industry experts to compile an insightful scientific program that brings insight into all aspects of the mechanical circulatory support field. The written statement announcing the award noted that the meeting focused on current trends such as acute circulatory support and pulmonary support, addressing technology gaps, durable mechanical circulatory support challenges, and the financial aspects of such technologies. BiVACOR presented six technical papers during the event, including the following five abstracts and a scientific session presentation:
- “Hydraulic Characterization of the BiVACOR TAH during pre-clinical studies,” by presenting author Anna Davis
- “Future Development of the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart System,” by presenting author: Daniel Timms
- “Design and Performance of the BiVACOR Inflow Cuffs and Outflow Grafts,” by presenting author David Carillo
“Hemocompatibility of the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart,” by presenting author Eric Wu
- “Short-term in-vitro System Reliability of the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart,” by presenting author Jordan Ford
- Scientific Session XII: “The Total Artificial Heart and BiVAD Support: The future of Total Artificial Hearts: A 2050 approach” was presented by Daniel Timms
BiVACOR was founded in 2008 by a team of internationally renowned biomedical engineers and cardiac surgeons, including Founder and Chief Technical Officer Daniel Timms, Ph.D., and Chief Medical Officer William Cohn, MD. BiVACOR reports a robust collaborative network that extends nationally and internationally and boasts a team of world-class engineers, medical specialists, and business executives advancing ground-breaking technology.
The company shared the following on heart failure and its impact: Heart Failure (HF) is a devastating disease that affects more than 300,000 Australians, and 11 million people in the US and Europe, with an incidence of 1.1 million new cases per year. Furthermore, current growth rates predict a 25% increase in the incidence of HF by 2030. According to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), 100,000 patients could immediately benefit from a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH), and the European market is similarly sized. Without intervention, patients with severe HF have a bleak outlook. For these patients, drug therapy is a limited, relatively ineffective option. Although a heart transplant would meet their needs, only 4000 donor hearts are available globally each year. It further offers that Implantation of a TAH is a treatment option for patients with end-stage HF who need support while on a heart transplant waiting list or who do not qualify for a transplant. Removal of the native ventricles allows the device to completely replace the function of the native heart.
More information: www.bivacor.com
March 25, 2025 
