“It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. But no one asked, ‘who are you then?’ Stephen R. Ash, MD, FACP satire.
Frustration is what motivated Ash to get treatment for kidney and liver ailments. All his life he pursued the goal of making hemodialysis technology simpler, safer and more suitable for use at home.
Hemodialysis is a treatment to filter waste and water from the blood, just as the kidneys do when they are healthy. In patients with end-stage renal disease (ESKD), hemodialysis also helps control blood pressure and balance important minerals, such as potassium, sodium, and calcium in the blood.
Ash first saw a working dialysis machine as a medical student in 1970. He was amazed at how the machine regenerates a human kidney. But his college training in physics told him there had to be a simpler way.
Ash joined the Arnett Clinic (now IU Health Arnett) in 1975 after completing an internship, residency, and fellowship at the Indiana School of Medicine.
Nephrology—the treatment of kidney diseases and complications—was his specialty, and he launched the first dialysis program in Lafayette. He also opened the Hemodialysis Laboratory in the newly established Bioengineering Department at Purdue—looking for a simpler way.
Ash, who has developed many medical devices and therapies, says: “The tools, drugs, or devices I use to treat patients are often not the simplest, safest, or best for the patient. , so I will look for a better solution.” to combat catheter-associated blood infections.
For example, Ash’s practical experience shows him that traditional dialysis catheters are not optimal, so his own solution–The Ash Split Cath™–is now widely used thanks to improved Improved blood flow reliability, this design became widely available.
In 1983, Ash developed a detox device—BioLogic-DT—to treat liver failure and drug overdoses. Developed to make home hemodialysis easier, BioLogic-DT removes toxins from the blood and acts like an artificial liver. It has applications for reversing acute liver failure symptoms and stabilizing patients until liver function is restored or a liver transplant is obtained.
In 1995, BioLogic-DT was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for drug overdose. It was later approved to treat patients with liver failure. That same year, Ash developed the BioLogic-HT system to be used to balance blood chemistry during the treatment of systemic hyperthermia in patients with AIDS or terminal cancer.
“Looking back, I realize that most of the projects were started because I was not satisfied with dialysis as a treatment for ESKD and other conditions,” says Ash. “Some projects started because we lacked any therapies for serious diseases, such as supporting patients with liver failure. A lot of thought and planning was put into the decision to start each project, and a lot of heart (and money) was invested in each project.”
Ash is a good inventor. A lifetime of pursuing a better method has led him to become the author of more than 30 US patents, more than 100 publications and 15 textbook chapters in the fields of hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, vascular access, extracorporeal medical devices, computerized medical charting, and chemical absorption. . He is a co-founder of several pharmaceutical and biomedical device companies including Ash Access Technology, HemoCleanse, Renal Solutions and ZSPharma.
Ash has been an adjunct adjunct professor of comparative medicine in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University and a clinical associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine.
Ash retires in July 2022, although he is still commonly seen at Arnett Hospital. He lives on a horse farm with his wife Marianne, a respected veterinary specialist in her own right. He often applies his natural instincts to solving problems around the farm, such as GutterShed™, an invention that arose when his current gutter cover simply is not working by his standards.
Ash’s lifelong focus has been on improving medical practice. His inventions helped save and prolong lives. His definition of success is when he sees a device or drug he helped develop that is widely used clinically.
Want to read more about Ash’s lifelong work?
Read more about Arnett’s history at https://iuhealth.org/thrive/celebrating-100-years-of-arnett
