A former engineering student from Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT ), Dwain Tarmey from Cloontuskert, Co Roscommon, has been named employee of the year for 2011, after a medical device he developed was launched successfully in 53 nations worldwide.
Dwain completed a master’s degree last year in polymer engineering, after his bachelor’s degree in polymer technology in 2008 from the college.
Mr Tarmey won the award from gradireland for his work in designing, developing and bringing to market an inflatable balloon catheter which has been launched successfully in the US and 52 other countries.
He joined Carrick-on-Shannon based medical devices company VistaMed as a project engineer through InterTradeIreland’s Fusion programme in 2009.
The catheter he developed allows a patient to leave hospital after 24 hours with significantly improved mobility and reduced pain in osteoporosis sufferers. VistaMed has secured a new contract and recruited for 20 new positions to cope with expected demand as a result of the product creation.
“Dwain is a fantastic example of polymer engineering graduates from AIT who are making a major contribution in medical device companies around the globe. The orthopaedic device that Dwain developed will make a major contribution to patient health and wellbeing, as well as furthering Ireland’s reputation as a leader in this market. He is an inspiration to future engineering students,” said Austin Hanley, Head of AIT’s School of Engineering.
“I offer my sincere congratulations to Dwain. Not only has he contributed materially and measurably to business success at VistaMed Limited [the firm is projecting a sales growth of 33 per cent in 2011], he has developed a product which benefits patients with osteoporosis and helps to dramatically improve their quality of life,” said InterTradeIreland CEO Liam Nellis.
The Fusion programme is an all-island technology transfer programme which develops and facilitates three-way cross-border innovation partnerships and projects between companies, graduates and third-level students.
Students are recruited specifically to develop a specific innovative and commercially viable product, service or process and past students have generated significant benefits for individual companies, and the Fusion programme offers each company up to €33,150 to fund half of the recruit’s employment costs and 100 per cent of other eligible costs.
