UW Medicine Inventor of the Year Award

Celebrating UW Medicine Faculty's Innovative Contributions to Healthcare

The UW Medicine Inventor of the Year award honors outstanding UW scientists whose inventions have had a major effect on both human health and our local economy. Each year, the Inventor of the Year selection committee solicits nominations from department chairs and administrators which are then reviewed based on the following criteria:

inventor of the year
  • Number of lives saved or improved​
  • Biomedical impact of the invention
  • Contribution to the Bioscience sector
  • Contributions to the UW CoMotion mission to extend the impact of University of Washington research through the creation of partnerships that encourage investment in innovation
  • Contributions to the UW School of Medicine faculty community

Submit a Nomination

Nominations are now open for the 2026 UW Medicine Inventor of the Year Award. To submit a nomination, please complete the form in its entirety and submit the nominee’s CV and letter of recommendation for consideration. On this form, you will be asked to include a summary of their patents, licensing, and commercialization activities (less than 200 words) and a statement of impact on public welfare (less than 200 words).

The deadline to submit a nomination is by end of day on Monday, May 4, 2026.

Submit a Nomination

2025 Award Winner - Michael Bailey and the Rolling Stones

Dr. Michael Bailey and his team, dubbed the Rolling Stones, conduct NIH-funded research on how lithotripsy breaks kidney stones and NASA-funded research on how to mitigate the risk of stones in space. The Rolling Stones team invented a noninvasive way to break stones with sound waves through the skin and then sweep the fragments along, so they wash out with the urine. The team created the technology and a device and measured the clinical benefits in randomized clinical trials.

Their invention may be a safer, more effective treatment than surgery and does not have the risks and costs of surgery. More importantly, their invention is a way to treat stones before they cause an emergency department visit or require surgery. The Rolling Stones team also created a spin-off company, SonoMotion.

The SonoMotion Stone Clear device has been cleared for sale by the FDA and their Break Wave device, which was given priority review under the FDA Breakthrough program, has delivered promising results during its pivotal trial for clearance. The innovation appears poised for widespread use in humans and veterinary medicine.

Then active astronaut Leroy Chiao, Ph.D. testing the Stone Clear technology on a training mannequin at the NSBRI Pioneer Award presentation to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2012. Photo courtesy of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI).
Michael Bailey

Michael Bailey received his B.S. degree in 1991 from Yale University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 1997 from the University of Texas at Austin, all in mechanical engineering. He is currently a Senior Principal Engineer at the Applied Physics Laboratory and Professor (WOT) of Mechanical Engineering and Adjunct Professor of Urology at the University of Washington. His research interests include cavitation, kidney stone lithotripsy, high intensity focused ultrasound, and ultrasound imaging.

He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He served on the Board of the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) from 2009 to 2012, the Bioeffects Committee of the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine from 2006 to 2012, and the ASA Executive Council from 2013 to 2016. He received Early Career Awards from ASA in 2004 and ISTU in 2008.

Dr. Bailey in the News

Sound Solutions, Department of Mechanical Engineering

SonoMotion announces FDA de novo clearance for it’s Stone Clear Device, PR Newswire

Students, experts collaborate over kidney stones in space, UW Medicine Newsroom

Recent Award Winners

2024: Mary "Nora" L. Disis

Her research is in the development of vaccine and cellular therapy for the treatment and prevention of common malignancies. She holds several patents in the field of cancer immunotherapy and diagnostics.

Ruikang 'Ricky' Wang

2023: Ruikang Wang, PhD

Dr. Wang’s laboratory is responsible for the invention of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA, or optical micro angiography), an OCT imaging technique capable of 3D imaging of blood flow within microcirculatory tissue beds in vivo.

 

Jay-Shendure

2022: Jay Shendure, MD, PhD

Dr. Shendure’s research group in Seattle pioneered exome sequencing and its earliest applications to gene discovery for Mendelian disorders and autism; cell-free DNA diagnostics for cancer and reproductive medicine; massively parallel reporter assays, saturation genome editing; whole organism lineage tracing, and massively parallel molecular profiling of single cells.

Past Winners

2020: Alexander Greninger, MD, PhD, MS, M.Phil., & Keith Jerome, MD, PhD
2019: Jim Stout, PhD
2018: Thomas S Lendvay, MD
2017: Christy McKinney, PhD, MPH & Michael Cunningham, MD, PhD
2016: Samuel Browd, MD, PhD., Jonathan Posner, PhD
2015: David R. Eyre, PhD
2014: David Russell, MD, PhD
2013: Fred Silverstein, MD
2012: Yongmin Kim, PhD
2011: David Baker, PhD
2010: Roy Martin, PhD
2009:  Bonnie Ramsey, MD, Arnold Smith, MD, Bruce Montgomery, MD
2008: Irwin D. Bernstein, MD
2007: Phillip Green II, PhD
2006: David C. Auth, PhD
2005: Earle W. Davie, PhD
2004: Benjamin Hall, PhD

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